{"id":752,"date":"2015-08-03T13:44:14","date_gmt":"2015-08-03T13:44:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.southasiantimes.com.au\/?p=752"},"modified":"2015-08-06T14:21:23","modified_gmt":"2015-08-06T14:21:23","slug":"india-backpedals-on-its-massive-porn-ban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.southasiantimes.com.au\/?p=752","title":{"rendered":"India Backpedals On Its Massive Porn Ban"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"bitch\"<\/a>After blocking more than 800 pornographic websites this past week, the Indian government has decided to knock its overly restrictive ban down from a borderline human rights violation to a much more conservative measure. Now, only child pornography sites will be banned, and local ISP\u2019s will be held accountable for their content.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

This news comes from minister Ravi Shankar Prasad via India Today TV, saying \u201csites that do not promote child porn will be unbanned.\u201d This makes waaaaaay more sense than India\u2019s former plan, released on July 31st, to ban every site subjectively considered \u201cimmoral and indecent\u201d and even more absurdly: \u201ca social nuisance.\u201d The decision was met with outrage throughout India with many accusing the government of \u201cmoral policing and infringing on personal freedoms\u201d according to India Today.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll mark this as a win for digital rights.<\/p>\n

\"India<\/a><\/div>\n

Monday brings bad news to the India-based lovers of former Gawker Media blog Fleshbot. Porn is now banned in India. So are some racier corners of the online dating world, apparently.<\/p>\n

The Indian government has ordered internet service providers to block 857 websites that host porny content. Among those are our friends Fleshbot and everybody\u2019s friends at Adult Friend Finder. (See the full list here.) Why would they do such a thing, especially since India\u2019s Supreme Court refused to ban adult content just one month ago? Because porn is so annoying.<\/p>\n

\u201cFree and open access to porn websites has been brought under check,\u201d a spokesman at the department of telecommunications told Reuters. \u201cWe don\u2019t want them to become a social nuisance.\u201d<\/p>\n

The seemingly subjective selection of banned websites comes after years of increased internet censorship in India. After updating its Information Technology Act in 2011, the former British colony asked Facebook and Google to screen content. In 2012, India banned over 250 websites for \u201ctriggering panic\u201d and told Twitter to axe the accounts of people reporting on unrest in the northeaster portion of the country. They were being a nuisance, too, it seems.<\/p>\n

Do you know what\u2019s really a social nuisance? Government goons telling citizens what they are and are not allowed to look at. Yesterday, it was dissidents. Today, it\u2019s porn. Tomorrow, it\u2019s blogs.<\/p>\n

Trust us: We know internet websites can be a nuisance sometimes. That\u2019s what makes them great.<\/p>\n

Source: Reuters\/ Gizmodo<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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