On January 5 2002, the undersigned wrote on this blog “Declare a War on Pornography”. This was written in the aftermath of the arrest of Dr L.Prakash, a well known Orthopedist and an innovative industrialist who drifted into the world of criminality because of the lure of money around Cyber Pornography.
This site has consistently expressed an opinion that Cyber Pornography is bad and needs to be curtailed. The following articles are worthy of recall in this aspect.
Times of India group guilty under Sections 67,67A and 67B? Will …
Times of India.. Is it Set to Mislead the Public on Savita Bhabhi Issue?
What Do We Do with Obscenity in Times of India?
Govt Can Ban Porn websites for obscenity
The War on savitabhabhi.com needs to be continued
Cyber Pornography- We need to fight for a Clean Internet
In all these articles we had strongly put up a view that Government needs to act strongly to put down Cyber Pornography. In fact when savitabhabhi.com was shut down, many blamed the undersigned being responsible for it and he had to face the wrath of many friends in the IT industry for supporting what is often considered as an archaic view.
Now today’s internet news talks of “#PornBan: Indian government reportedly starts blocking porn sites”.
There are similar reports in other websites and expected criticism from many quarters. I am sure many of my friends in the industry will consider this as an assault on personal freedom particularly after a recent Supreme Court verdict saying that Viewing Pornography by an adult is a “Fundamental Right”
Obviously, this will bring out many adverse reactions and Mr Arnab Goswami will cry “Here is an RSS Agenda”. Mr Digvijay Singh will second him along with Manishankar Iyer.
Let them keep shouting. I feel satisfied that the NDA Government has done a good thing by this move though I am not sure how long this will last.
I remember having presented in the National IT Convention meeting of BJP in Chennai on 28th September 2008 several issues that BJP needs to address if it comes to power in the 2009 elections including the issue of Cyber Pornography, National Cyber Army Command etc which are being discussed now .
I am however happy to observe that 13 years after Naavi gave a war cry, and 7 years after the direct interaction, the people who matter seem to have heard it.
I wish the Government will have the courage to withstand the pressures from the opposition and the media lobby and ensure that the Indian Cyber Space is cleaned of pornographic stuff.
Blocking pornographic sites is not only a moral issue but is also a Cyber Security issue. The move to block pornographic sites will eliminate one important virus dropping channel that the criminals tend to use often.
I wholeheartedly congratulate the Government on this move. I urge the Supreme Court not to interfere with this decision since it is a National Security issue.
Naavi
