Victory ...

... er, sort of. Shivam Vij informs us that the blog block will be lifted within a day (it has already happened for me!). I think we are all justified to feel hugely relieved.

But, this is only a partial victory. As Dilip and Neha have observed, the censorship is still on. Some sites are still being blocked, on the pretext that they have objectionable content. It's not clear who decides what's objectionable, and whether a blanket ban can be ordered without any due process (that would allow the content owners to offer their defence). [Let's not even get into the meaning of a 'ban' or a 'block' that is so laughably easy to circumvent ...]

Several applications under the Right to Information Act have been filed demanding why these sites were sought to be blocked in the first place. We should continue to support the people behind these moves.

Now, can this momentum be sustained in the fight for lifting the ban on the few sites that are still blocked? I certainly hope so. Getting to a "framework that will prevent government from banning anything" is, as Dilip says, "a huge goal, and it will take some doing to get there". I agree with him that it's worth fighting for.

* * *

Having said that, I would still say that this episode has done something quite invaluable. And that's to make issues such as freedom of speech and freedom of the press real and relevant to a set of people who are thought to be full of apathy: the youth. These freedoms are not some lofty ideals that talking heads discuss on TV; they have now become personal, and personally valuable to a huge number of people and, in particular, young, educated, tech-savvy people. And, this can only be a good thing.