New Delhi:
The government has, amid public uproar, revoked an order that blocked hundreds of pornographic websites, but its decision has left many confused - including telcoms. The problem is that internet service providers have been asked to enable access once again to adult websites, but sites that host any child porn must remain disabled.
"This whole thing is very ambiguous. How are we supposed to check if the sites have child porn?" said an official at one of India's main telecom operators to news agency Reuters. Operators say the onus of checking and deciding which sites need to be blocked has been thrust unfairly upon them. "How can the government put the responsibility on us to see whether a website carries child pornography or not?" Rajesh Chharia, president of an association, of internet service providers, told the
Times of India.
On Friday, the government ordered operators to block 857 sites that allegedly make porn available. Yesterday, embarrassed government sources said that instead of doing its homework, it flat-out accepted as valid the entire list submitted by a lawyer-activist, who has asked the Supreme Court to ban online porn on the grounds that it incites violence against women. Use of social media and smartphones is rising rapidly in the country and pornography is in demand: Pornhub, an adult website, last year said India ranked fifth for daily visitors.
Last month, Chief Justice HL Duttu refused to ban porn websites, saying that it would violate an adult's right to liberty in the privacy of his or her home.