Yogya student invents program to block online pornography

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Fri, 02/23/2007 8:54 AM

Slamet Susanto, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta

A Yogyakarta university student has created a program aimed at giving parents peace of mind by blocking pornographic sites on the Internet.

The program, called Site Blocker, was invented by Ahlul Fadish Resha, a 22-year-old student at Yogyakarta's Gajah Mada University, and can be downloaded for free.

""I created this program because I'm concerned with the widespread access to porn sites in offices and homes, especially by minors,"" said Ahlul.

Ahlul is a self-taught computer expert who likes to explore how computer programs work. Before creating the Site Blocker program he had also destroyed a number of computer viruses.

He acknowledged he gained a lot of enemies from his hobby, particularly amongst appreciators of porn, and was also scorned for beating the viruses.

According to Ahlul, who studies at the university's Electronics and Instrumentation Department, people have found it difficult to effectively block obscene sites.

A common method so far has been requiring internet service providers to block unwanted sites.

A more drastic way to prevent access to pornography has been through government intervention. However, such regulation has been difficult to conceive and implement. The most effective method is to download computer programs to block x-rated sites.

The Site Blocker, according to Ahlul, prevents a computer from accessing porn sites. It uses a database of known porn sites as a reference to block access.

""If of a new porn site is not available in the database, the program cannot work,"" said Ahlul.

He said that the database must be updated in order to block a new site.

During a trial of the 540-kilobyte program, The Jakarta Post was unable to access any porn sites, instead being met by the message ""sorry, you cannot access this site.""

The Site Blocker, which can be viewed at ahlul.web.id, won first prize in the Education Achievement Festival organized by the Youth and Sports Ministry on Dec. 13, last year.

Ahlul said he was distributing the program for free so it could benefit the community.

""What's the use of patenting it when people can simply copy it later? I'd rather give it for free,"" he said.

Copyright © 2008 The Jakarta Post - PT Bina Media Tenggara. All Rights Reserved.