Row as India blocks porn websites
Print Edition
India has ordered Internet service providers to block access to more than 850 adult websites in what the government has described as a way to protect social decency.
NN Kaul, a spokesman for India’s department of telecom, said yesterday that the government was trying to control easy access to pornography following a directive from the country’s top court.
Kaul said that while Internet service providers in India will have to bar access, users may still view the sites through virtual private networks and proxy servers. He said the move would protect children.
The leaked government order, dated last Friday, orders Internet service providers to block access to the 857 sites on grounds of morality and decency.
The Supreme Court said earlier in July that ordering a ban on adult websites was not its job but was an issue for the government. That followed an order from the court last year that suggested the government needed to monitor access to pornography.
Prominent authors, commentators and politicians took to social media to voice their opposition while #Pornban had been trending on Twitter.
“Don’t ban porn. Ban men ogling, leering, brushing past, groping, molesting, abusing, humiliating and raping women. Ban non-consent. Not sex,” popular author Chetan Bhagat posted on Twitter.
“Porn ban is anti-freedom, impractical, not enforceable. Politically not very smart too; avoidable. Let’s not manage people’s private lives,” he added.
Opposition lawmaker Milind Deora said on Twitter the ban was “not about liking or disliking porn. It’s about govt hijacking personal liberties”.
“What’ll they ban next — phones & TVs?” he asked.
Internet expert Pranesh Prakash said the ban was undemocratic given there was no evidence that the sites were unlawful. “The ban seems illegitimate. It is undemocratic because there doesn’t seem to be any finding of unlawfulness on these websites,” Prakash, policy director of the Bangalore-based Center for Internet and Society research group, said.
In the past India has tried to control social media sites like Facebook and Twitter and ask them to take down offensive material. It had briefly blocked several Twitter accounts in 2012 citing security and law and order fears. It also blocked access to a homegrown soft-porn website in 2009.
Kaul said more websites may be added to the list of those to be blocked.
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