A strange
debate has been raised in the Post Mallika Sheravat MMS scam whether por.n
should be legalized?. Times of India carries this story where several experts
seem to agree on this controversial aspect. A couple of years back Naavi.org
had expressed preference to the setting up of a .xxx domain name TLD so that
por.n sites may exist but could be filtered out. A time has come to re start
this debate.
TOI which is
known to be soft on por.n as evidenced by its front page design as well as the
red light clubs which adorn the Indiatimes clubs section has come out with the
debate that is sure to create ripples in the society.
At a time when
we are fighting the unending spam with explicit messages, stream of
objectionable stuff which is embedded with viruses and trojans, it is strange
that many seem to agree with the view that por.n should be legalized.
It is
worthwhile to repeat some of the statements made in the TOI article so that we
can put the discussion in the right perspective.
The real issue
is that many support por.nography because they see an economic advantage.
The authors, Nikhit Kazmi and Allen O'Brein quote
"legalising por.n makes economic sense. It is
estimated that Americans spend around $10 billion a year on adult
entertainment. Consumer demand is so strong that film companies are now making
millions selling erotica to America. According to Paul Fishbein, president,
Adult Video News, the industry's trade publication, there are over 800 million
rentals of adult videotapes and DVDs in video stores in the US every year
along with 200 adult entertainment companies..." etc
What an
argument?...By the same token, terrorism should be made legal. Crimes should
be made legal. Gambling should be made legal. Drugs should be made legal.
because all these represent large industries in which huge investments have
been made..large number of people are employed. This means that things like
banning smoking advertisements, prohibition, banning dance bars, introducing
dress code in churches etc are childish to say the least. In fact many of our
Cyber Cafes would be too glad to add that they too are economically well off
because of por.nography.
It is further
strange to observe that many seem to agree on the views of the authors. Some
of the quotes extracted from the same article reveal the following opinions.
"Yes,
"it's time to kick up a debate whether por.n should be legalised or not"..Pavan
Duggal
" And why not?
..People all over the world have learnt to live with it; it's high time we
Indians -- specially celebs -- need to do the same." .. novelist Shobhaa De.
"As long as we do not intrude on anyone's privacy, watching por.n should
have nothing to do with the law. I don't really care if one morphs my image on
the Internet. Morphing is there to be enjoyed... that's it!" .. Upen Patel,
model
"por.n is okay,
Because India is the land of the erotic. Celeb por.n is eroticised male and
female fantasy. Nothing wrong with that. But we need to stop all forms of
child por.nography." says Alyque Padamsee, theatre and ad man.
It makes one
sad to observe that opinions as above persist. It reflects that some of the so
called celebrities have grown insensitive to the "Community" and become so
selfish that any thing is right as far as it is churning money for them.
It is even
sadder that publications such as Times of India chose to promote such opinions
and thereby sell their publications.
It is to be
recognized that "por.nography" by definition is that which "Depraves" and
"Corrupts" the minds of people. If something is not "depraving or corrupting"
then it is not classified as "por.nography" at all.
Having accepted
this definition, there is no ground to support either legalization or even
tolerance of por.nography.
por.nography on
the net destroys our younger generation and demeans the value of Internet as
an "Information Super Highway". It prevents the society from giving free
access to Internet for the younger generation and thereby stunts the growth of
Internet as a whole. por.nography abets other crimes by spreading virus, trojans, password stealing software, etc.
There is
therefore no ground to support legalization of por.n.
While filtering
of por.nographic sites is a technological challenge, it is necessary fore the
society to re think on the feasibility of creating an exclusive domain with
.xxx TLD so that all those who celebrate the por.n stuff can continue to enjoy
the stuff while the conservative society can continue to work in a more
sanitized environment. Once such a domain is created, presence of any por.n
stuff in the sanitized zone should be considered strictly punishable.
Now that this
issue has been brought up for debate, the ITA-2000 review committee which is
formulating laws for Cyber Cafe regulation amongst other things should take
note and probably suggest that
"A new
exclusive TLD (.xxx.in) should be created under the dot in domain where adult
material may be held immune from the operation of section 67 of ITA-2000,
provided however that all ISPs filter the domain and provide access only to
those who hold an "Adult Pass" issued in the form of a new category of Digital
Certificate".
This provision
will satisfy the economic sense since it can attract global por.nographic
players to the dot in domain and also increase the market for digital
certificates.
Naavi
July 13, 2005
(Comments
welcome)
Related
Articles:
What is an "Adult Pass"?
Legalize
por.n?..TOI
Cultural Policing- Creating a Red Light Area on Cyber Space..
Naavi.org
