Government of India’s decision to ban porn across the country has ranged from angry reactions to satirical connotations of the people. Days after the govt had decided to block all porn sites in India it suddenly did a backtrack and decided to blanket the sites that contain child pornography.
People from all quarters have heavily criticized govt’s odd decision to ban explicit contents online without any notifications adding that the apex court has suggested that govt is no authority to interfere into people’s privacy inside house.
However, critics have felt that the government could have regulated access to pornography on the internet by some other means, which would have been effective in a better way. In the UK, all online porn is banned by default, although users can ask their Internet service providers to unblock such websites.
"The best model is that of the UK, wherein all ISPs filter all pornographic content by default but allow users who want to access porn to opt in for the service," Mrityunjay Tiwari, managing director, India, at web content filtering company Netsweeper has told The Economic Times. "This means the people who are offended by porn are able to get 'safe' or 'clean internet' whereas the people who want to access porn can continue to do so by informing their ISPs."
The US considers it a federal crime to possess, distribute or produce child pornography. However, it protects pornography as free speech under the Constitution.
A total ban on porn, as implemented in China, where the internet is heavily regulated and monitored by the government, is cited as an example of this ineffectiveness.
"In China, they have dedicated teams to ensure the ban on porn. There is an automated process supported by a manual process. Even the Chinese block can be circumvented - it is not foolproof," Prasanth Sugathan, counsel for the Software Freedom Law Centre (SFLC) told The Economic Times.
In the Middle East, Iran considers pornography illegal but has not been able to check its spread through the Internet. Saudi Arabia bans all forms of porn due to religious reasons. Pakistan prohibits all types of porn content, including a list of websites that is updated continuously. Most nations support banning child pornography.
Also Read: Here's What Female Porn Stars Get Paid For Different Types Of Scenes