The Indian government today ordered internet service providers to block 857 websites containing pornographic content, in order to prevent children from accessing them and also to protect social decency.
Since the weekend, access to this type of content has been restricted and the pages have been definitively blocked this Monday in accordance with article 19 of the Indian Constitution, based on the type of morality and decency of the pages.
N. Kaul, a spokesman for the Telecommunications department, indicated that although Internet providers will have to block access, users will still be able to view the sites through virtual private networks and proxy servers, or intermediaries.
“No one has examined the content of the pages, in fact, for someone some content may be pornographic and others may not, the definition is vague,” Sanjay Hedge, a well-known Indian lawyer who has opposed the blocking, told the network. Indian NDTV.
The Supreme Court reported last July that ordering the ban on access to adult web pages was not its task, but the government’s, The Times of India recalled.
Now, the government’s order to block access to pornographic sites has sparked a debate in the country about censorship and the kind of self-righteous policies that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is approving.
In addition, the measure has sparked controversy in India, where a campaign led by intellectuals such as the writer Chetan Bhagat or the filmmaker Ram Gopal Verma against the blockade has already begun.
India has tried in the past to control social networks such as Facebook and Twitter, even asking to remove material it considers offensive, while in 2012 it temporarily blocked several Twitter accounts for security reasons.
Facebook Comments
Disqus