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Information ministry takes an inch, porn sites run a mile
If this was a race, the Communications and Information Technology Ministry would be the heavily panting, sweaty out of shape runner who drags his feet while eyeing with envy the clear winner running far in distance: the porn sites
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f this was a race, the Communications and Information Technology Ministry would be the heavily panting, sweaty out of shape runner who drags his feet while eyeing with envy the clear winner running far in distance: the porn sites.
The ministry’s efforts to block X-rated sites are hitting a brick wall, as acknowledged by one ministry
official.
Ministry official Hendri Subiyakto said Sunday that for every porn site blocked, new sites with different names and different URLs were created.
Since the start of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, the ministry has made endless attempt to block porn sites. Critics have said this was not feasible, and that any attempts made would be futile.
“We have not succeeded [in blocking the sites],” Hendri was quoted as saying by Antara news agency. He was speaking at a working visit with Manpower and Transmigration Minister Muhaimin Iskandar in Madura, East Java.
Hendri said there were 400 million porn sites and images on the Internet, and that each year, 24 million new pages carrying “obscene” material were created.
“This is the obstacle in our efforts, this is why there are still porn sites and images that escape the ministry’s filters,” he added.
Sammy Pangerapan from the Indonesian Internet Service Providers Association (APJII) told The Jakarta Post that ISPs were going to take a business approach to the “problem”. “We are targeting to have every ISP provide filtered services before the fasting month ends. If customers want to have filtered Internet access, they will have the option of subscribing to filtered services,” he said.
The ISPs, he added, would have to provide detailed information on which sites were blocked by the service. “ISPs provide access. If we ever want to block our customers’ access to certain web pages, we will have to let them know,” he told the Post.
Sammy added that the government needed to foster the growth of local content to help curb visits to pornographic web sites.
Local content makers need to join international conferences to learn how to make online content with international standards, he said.
ISPs, he added, were planning to cooperate with non-profit NGO ICT Watch and other communities in campaigning on Internet safety. Educating users on safe browsing would be the main focus. “The most effective filtering is through education,” he said.
Hendri acknowledged that a blanket block on porn sites would never be fully accomplished. Some sites, he said, “broke through” the ministry’s censors.
He maintained, however, that the government’s effort to block the sites was necessary to curb the spread of pornography on the Internet, saying Internet porn would damage the morality and mental health of the nation.
He added that the government was respecting Muslims who were fasting by taking such steps.
