The Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) has released the document that lists 857 adult websites that were ordered to be blocked by the Department of Telecommunication (DOT). The order was directed to the internet service providers (ISPs) citing that they violate “morality and decency” of Article 19 (2) of the Constitution and Section 79(3)(b) of the IT Act
A fortnight before Independence Day, India joined the glorious company of nanny nations as an apparent ban on online porn sites was in evidence.
Netizens across the country woke up to the ban when some users of reddit, reported their experiences while trying to browse porn sites and linked it to their ISPs, which included Hathway, BSNL, MTNL, Vodafone and ACT. Some users of Airtel, Tikona and Tata reported they were able to access the adult sites.
One user trying to open vodlocker got the message: “Your requested URL has been blocked as per the directions received from Department of Telecommunications, Government of India. Please contact the administrator for more information.” Not all the porn sites were affected. But the nearly 100 sites which became inaccessible were the popular ones, according to Alexa ranking system.
However, adult video sharing sites have also become inaccessible. Youtube and vimeo though remained accessible. By Saturday midnight and wee hours of Sunday, #pornban was trending with ribald jokes and foul language about everyone ranging from the PM to the apparent Leader of Opposition. Interestingly, it was only a fortnight back that the Chief Justice of India refrained from issuing an interim order on a batch of petitions seeking ban on porn.
(With inputs from ENS)