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India orders hundreds of porn sites blocked

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India orders hundreds of porn sites blocked

New Delhi - The telecommunications ministry has directed Internet service providers (ISPs) to block 857 websites.

By AFP


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Published: Mon 3 Aug 2015, 4:05 PM

Last updated: Tue 4 Aug 2015, 2:16 AM

India has ordered hundreds of porn sites blocked citing "objectionable" content, a government official said on Monday, kicking off an angry row about freedom of speech in the world's biggest democracy.
The telecommunications ministry has directed Internet service providers (ISPs) to block 857 websites, in the government's first major crackdown on online pornography.
"We have written to the ISPs asking them to control free and open access to objectionable websites," N.N. Kaul, a spokesman at the telecommunications department, said.

According to a research carried out by PornMD, six of the top 10 countries that watch most porn are Muslim states. The data was delivered by Google on basis of the search queries that originated from various countries. Here is the list:
1. Pakistan
2. Egypt
3. Vietnam
4. Iran
5. Morocco
6. India
7. Saudi Arabia
8. Turkey
9. Philippines
10. Poland
Since the weekend, users across India have been hit with blank pages when they try to access adult sites, many of them based outside the country, sparking anger on social media about moral policing.
According to the adult site Pornhub, India was its fourth largest source of traffic behind the United States, Britain and Canada.
Kaul said the order was issued after India's top court voiced concern last month about the government's failure to block child porn sites in India.
"There is currently no system to filter specific websites. We are looking into evolving a system," Kaul said, adding that until then all sites would be blocked.
The Supreme Court declined to impose a ban on porn sites last month while hearing a legal petition against them, saying adults had the right to access such websites in private.
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.
Opposition lawmaker Milind Deora said the ban was "not about liking or disliking porn. It's about government hijacking personal liberties."
"What'll they ban next - phones & TVs?" he said on Twitter.
India has been accused of heavy-handed online censorship in the past, including in 2012 when it ordered 300 webpages, images and links on sites including Facebook and Twitter blocked, for spreading rumours it said was fuelling ethnic tensions.
 


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