• Indian Govt. Cannot Block Porn Websites by Itself

    Indian Govt. Cannot Block Porn Websites by Itself

    Techtree News Staff, Mar 10, 2010 1516 hrs IST

    Decision to ban a website lies in the hands of the court only after any complain is made

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The Bombay High Court has turned down a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) which demanded a ban on websites hosting obscene content. This means the government will not ban porn or hate speech hosting websites blindly but will look into the matter only if you file a suit against a particular website or people behind it.

 

In January, Chief Justice of India K. G. Balakrishnan, had expressed an urgent need for a law to block pornographic material and hate speeches on websites. Following that, an adult cartoon site SavitaBhabhi was shut down.


 Also Read: YouTube Blocked in China Again


The Indian government's rights were curbed when new Section 69A was added to the Indian IT Act 2000. This new section restricts the Indian government to block any website even though it offers objectionable content. The earlier Section 69 of the Indian IT Act 200 allowed the government to ban any website to avoid incitement to the commission of any cognizable offence including obscenity. However, according to Section 69A, the power to block a porn and objectionable material carrying website lies in the hands of the court only after any complain is made.


After reading this, do you think the Indian government has been boiled down to being just a toothless tiger when it comes to monitoring Internet content? Leave us a comment and let us know.

 

 

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Discussion Board
(7) Comments
enforcer
,mumbai, on Mar 13, 2010 01:14 PM
This is what happens when crowds shout and vie for liberalisation and free speech and right to expression. Please learn from China , how to enforce a policy. And if anyone objects to it , spank their as*es.
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Kapila
,Chandigarh, on Mar 11, 2010 03:43 PM
The government should have some powers to control such material, however such powers can also allow the government to impose Emergency like restrictions which will a bane for our democracy. Also it is difficult to control material on the internet. Here are thousands of sites with objectionable material. You might block one site but it can pop up again with a different IP address and name.
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Anuj
,Mumbai, on Mar 11, 2010 03:06 AM
Agree but some measures needs to be taken so that only adults should be able to access such sites .. these sites just make the porn available at a click away which is not good. this is complex but can be easily achieved if sites adhere to some rules like credit card verification and registration on site should be mandatory and sites not following these rules could be banned ...
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bhuvi
,coimbatore, on Mar 10, 2010 10:17 PM
nice decision,because having power corrupts , or else internet in india would become what it is in china
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satyanjoy
,chennai, on Mar 10, 2010 04:51 PM
There should be an authority/advisory board lead by mix of people like ex-justice,IT people,humanist to keep an eye on the internet content .but I don't understand how come a porn graphic is offensive.Porn graphy is for adults only, its not for teen or kids.Why should adult deprived of porn. Rather its upto parents,internet cafe owner,college lab to make sure who is consuming what type of content.
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shyam
,delhi, on Mar 10, 2010 04:07 PM
yes its true what raghu said
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raghu
,pune, on Mar 10, 2010 04:03 PM
need to take initiative
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