Ethan Zuckerman has an important post about the growing global governmental blocking of online content, discussing recent blog-blocking by India:

He writes:

That India is blocking any sites is disappointing. I’d like to see all governments – my own included – block only as an absolute last resort, and as a way to prevent access to content that’s clearly illegal, like child pornography. And I think it’s critical that governments who do block the Internet do so in a way that’s transparent, posting a page that makes it clear that a site has been blocked, offering an appeals process and makng it clear that the page isn’t inaccessible due to technical errors…. blocking blogs is a slippery slope. Blocking opaquely makes it even more slippery. Regarding adult sites, it should also be noted that responsible porn sites like x3guide add an RTA code to their pages. This invisible label allows the parents to use an application to control access to adult content on the family computers.