Within four days of the ban on 857 sites considered
pornographic and being accused of moral vigilance, the government reversed the
order on Tuesday, making an exception only for websites devoted to child
pornography.
It is, however, passed the responsibility to identify and
block child pornography sites to Internet service providers. In turn, ISPs
protested that they have no means to identify child pornography sites. Nor was
it fair to hold them accountable if a web that surreptitiously disseminating
child porno, they said.
"How can government
make us responsible to see if a website involves child pornography or
not?" Rajesh Chharia, president of the Association of Internet Service
Providers in India, told TOI. "Why would an ISP punished if a site
suddenly transmitted child pornography?" The government was feeling the
heat of recent days to be seen as control freaks with a nasty streak of moral
policing. On Tuesday, Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad TI convened a meeting to
review the decision to ban 857 sites that were listed by a petitioner who had
gone to the SC against pornographic sites. bureaucrats were allowed to apply
the change of government shameful trend. A letter from the Department of Electronics
and Information Technology group coordinator BJ Srinath sent to SK Arya,
director of the DoT, on Tuesday, "In continuation of our letter of even
number of July 30, in the department of Telecommunications (DoT) is to be communicated
to all intermediaries (SIP) is ordered that intermediaries who are free not
disable any of the 857 URLs, as set out in the list, who have child porno
content. "The uprising the ban, while welcomed by advocates of freedom of
expression, however, was criticized by the Association of Internet Service
Providers in India.
Sharper questions about whether the government had no
business controlling what people saw in the privacy of their homes had been
raised since July 30, when the government had sent ISPs, or brokers, a list of
what it considers to is offending websites and asked them to block them.
One of the embattled telecommunications and IT Minister Ravi
Shankar Prasad refuted the accusation of "Talibanisation" Monday
.Describing the prohibition order as "provisional measure", he said,
"Our government supports free media, respect communication in social
networks and has respected the freedom of communication at all times. My
government is committed to freedom in social media and Internet communication.
"
However, a government insurance against the risk of being
seen as a system of control freak following similar actions, such as the ban on
beef in Maharashtra, he was forced to review the decision on Tuesday. Prasad
met with senior officials, including Secretary of IT RS Sharma and additional
attorney general Pinky Anand, and told them it was not the intention of the
government to curb Internet freedom. Therefore, would not block any web site
other than those carrying child pornography.
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