A rumor I’ve been hearing persistently for the last couple of days has surfaced in that cesspool towards which all IT rumors are irresistibly drawn (and on /. too). Apparently the ISPAI, a consortium of Indian ISPs, wants web biggies to pony up if they wish to reach Indian audiences. I’ve been searching (in vain so far) for a online source to this, because the Hindustani [sic] Times El Reg quotes does not seem to have a website, and I was unable to find any mention of this on hindustantimes.com.

If true, this would have been a cretinous move. On the other hand, Udhay Shankar points to a post on a silklist thread which purports to come from a ISPAI office bearer:

The ISPAI is not split on the issue. On this issue, the ISPAI speaks with one voice: there is absolutely no intention of blocking Yahoo, Hotmail, eBay or any other popular site. The article is pure bullshit.

Good to see common sense is alive and well in the country. And to all El Reg readers: have you taken your pinch of salt today?

Update: this ISPAI press release may have been the cause of the problem — this is a spat between ISPs licensed to provide VoIP services and services that provide voice chat on their own — MSN, Yahoo, etc. Cretinous anyway. Voice chat != VoIP.