The government may have reversed the controversial order banning hundreds of websites but some of the pornographic websites in the government’s ban list had a contingency plan in place.
As the news of the blocking spread last weekend, a few pornographic websites primarily catering to users in India began urging them through announcements and alerts on their websites download apps that could help bypass the ban.
Some also asked users to sign up for email newsletters that could help the website administrators to remain in touch with the users in case of a ban and also use email to update users of new content and methods to circumvent the censorship.
Last Saturday, telecom authorities had directed Internet service providers (ISPs) to block 857 websites on “morality and decency” grounds and to curb child pornography in what is the biggest crackdown on online pornography in India.
In past instances of similar blocking, websites had quickly moved to other domains to bypass the block. Because website blocking is usually done at the domain level, switching domains is one of the most popular tricks resorted to by blocked websites around the world.
The ban, however, drew criticism and public ridicule, forcing the government to cancel the order late Tuesday and direct the ISPs to allow access to the banned websites, except those containing child porn.
Although the government has cancelled the order, some service providers said they would not lift the block until they have more clarity as the new order puts the onus on them to prevent access to child pornography.
Authorities had argued the ban was necessary after the Supreme Court voiced concern last month about the government’s failure to block access to child pornography on the Internet.
Next week the Supreme Court is again scheduled to hear the petition to ban online porn outright. Judges observed during a hearing last month on the petition that adults had the right to access adult sites in private.
According to the adult site Pornhub, India was its fourth largest source of traffic behind the United States, Britain and Canada in 2014. Child pornography is illegal in India, as is publishing, hosting and transmitting it, but watching porn in private is legal.
The Indian government has been, in the past, accused of heavy-handed online censorship, including in 2012 when it ordered 300 webpages, images and links on social media networks such as Facebook and Twitter blocked.
Comments
0 comment