<p>The Department of Telecom (DoT) has asked the Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to block websites of app-based taxi operators but the move may not succeed as the ISPs will reiterate their earlier stand that secured sites cannot be blocked due to technical reasons.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Though the DoT issued a letter to ISPs on May 11 directing them to block sites of app-based taxi operators, including Ola, Uber and TaxiForSure, following a request from the Delhi government, public still access their websites without any hindrances.<br /><br />The ISPs have expressed their inability to block any website which is secured (https). “These sites cannot be blocked because of technical issues. We have already given a representation to government. This was a general representation,” Internet Service Providers Association of India (ISPAI) president Rajesh Chharia told Deccan Herald.<br /><br />”The ISPAI can’t block secured sites and mirror sites hosted from secured sites,” he said, adding that the DoT had itself accepted that there was a need to set up a committee to discuss modalities around blocking of secured (https) sites about three-four months ago. “We will submit a compliance report on which sites we have blocked and which we can’t,” he said.<br /><br />After a driver of Uber, an US-based online taxi-hailing company, was accused of raping a woman passenger in the national capital last year, the Delhi government banned operations of all unregistered app-based taxi services.<br /><br />However, after the Delhi government found that such services continued despite ban, it had written to the Department of Electronic & Information Technology (DEITy) in March to block the websites app-based taxi service providers.</p>
<p>The Department of Telecom (DoT) has asked the Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to block websites of app-based taxi operators but the move may not succeed as the ISPs will reiterate their earlier stand that secured sites cannot be blocked due to technical reasons.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Though the DoT issued a letter to ISPs on May 11 directing them to block sites of app-based taxi operators, including Ola, Uber and TaxiForSure, following a request from the Delhi government, public still access their websites without any hindrances.<br /><br />The ISPs have expressed their inability to block any website which is secured (https). “These sites cannot be blocked because of technical issues. We have already given a representation to government. This was a general representation,” Internet Service Providers Association of India (ISPAI) president Rajesh Chharia told Deccan Herald.<br /><br />”The ISPAI can’t block secured sites and mirror sites hosted from secured sites,” he said, adding that the DoT had itself accepted that there was a need to set up a committee to discuss modalities around blocking of secured (https) sites about three-four months ago. “We will submit a compliance report on which sites we have blocked and which we can’t,” he said.<br /><br />After a driver of Uber, an US-based online taxi-hailing company, was accused of raping a woman passenger in the national capital last year, the Delhi government banned operations of all unregistered app-based taxi services.<br /><br />However, after the Delhi government found that such services continued despite ban, it had written to the Department of Electronic & Information Technology (DEITy) in March to block the websites app-based taxi service providers.</p>
