Sorry, Porn Fans: India Banned 857 Sites Over the Weekend

NEW DELHI, India—Over this past weekend, the government of India ordered 857 adult and adult-related websites to be blocked—and some of the country's leading entertainment figures have registered their dismay at what some are calling an illegal act. "The best way to tackle a presumed menace is to bring it out in open rather than pushing it under the rug or pretending it doesn't exist," tweeted filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma, who directed the crime thrillers Satya and Satya 2, adding in another tweet, "To deprive consenting adults of the harmless fun they ar having of watching porn is equivalent of what Taliban nd Isis is doing to freedom." Fellow director Onir wondered, "Would #Kamasutra books be banned for propagating #Unnaturalsex?" while author Chetan Bhagat stated what should have been obvious to the Indian censors: "Porn ban is anti-freedom, impractical, not enforceable. Politically not very smart too. avoidable. Let's not manage people's private lives," later adding, "Don't ban porn. Ban men ogling, leering, brushing past, groping, molesting, abusing, humiliating and raping women. Ban non-consent. Not sex." It's unclear why the Indian Department of Communications chose the first weekend in August to enact its ban, especially since it's been well established that Indians are completely free to view hardcore material in the privacy of their own homes, though the material's sale and distribution are both illegal, thanks in large part to India's "moral police," who recently targeted retired adult performer Sunny Leone. "Certain websites have been reviewed and found to be spreading anti-social activities as hyperlinks from these websites, some of them were pornographic, so we have sent letters to internet service providers to block them," a source within the department told the Hindustan Times. "The action has been taken in reference to section 79 [sic] of IT Act." Still other sources within the department told the Times of India that, "denial of access at department of telecom's (DoT) instance was temporary, insisting that it was a prelude to the creation of a regular regulatory oversight…" and that "the directive was necessitated by the Supreme Court's observations last month over the home ministry's failure in blocking child pornography on several sites, and claimed that the idea was not to black out or police what people did in their bedrooms…" However, considering how many of the blocked sites reference the terms "mature" and "MILF" in their URLs, the extent of the blocking can hardly be laid to child porn concerns exclusively. Besides the usual suspects—Brazzers.com, Flirt4Free.com, myfreecams.com, porntube.com, xvideos.com, the imaginative xxx.xxx and the like—sites also blocked include the apparently-sexier-than-is-obvious sites 3rat.com, hot-dates.info, pinkythekinky.com, B9.com, woodstockreborn.tumblr.com, mouparkstreet.blogspot.in, dreammovies.com, lookatvintage.com, watchersweb.com, bitefalm.com, booloo.com, dailyolders.com, askyourmom.com and one of our list favorites, oldwomanface.com. In all, 857 sites are listed. The government's power to force the blockage, to which most of India's ISPs have already consented and implemented, apparently comes from Section 69A of the IT Act, which states, "Where the Central Government or any of its officer specially authorized by it in this behalf is satisfied that it is necessary or expedient so to do in the interest of sovereignty and integrity of India, defense of India, security of the State, friendly relations with foreign states or public order or for preventing incitement to the commission of any cognizable offence relating to above, it may subject to the provisions of sub-sections (2) for reasons to be recorded in writing, by order direct any agency of the Government or intermediary to block access by the public or cause to be blocked for access by public any information generated, transmitted, received, stored or hosted in any computer resource." [Emphasis added] The law also prescribes fines and imprisonment for up to seven years for any "intermediary" (read: ISP) which refuses to implement the ban. It is unknown when or if the ban will be lifted, though public outcry against it continues to grow. Of course, India isn't the only country with banning online porn on its mind. British Prime Minister David Cameron is currently pushing an age-verification system for British ISPs to impliment, with dire consequences including complete shutdown of the service if they refuse. "I want to see age restrictions put into place or these websites will face being shut down," Cameron said in a statement to The Independent. Restricting access to adult materials has long been a Cameron objective, and back in December, the Audiovisual Media Services Regulations 2014 Act was amended so that the same sexual restrictions in place for the selling of explicit DVDs would now apply to video on demand material as well. Those restricted acts include spanking, caning, aggressive whipping, penetration by any object "associated with violence," physical or verbal abuse (regardless of if consensual), urolagnia (known as "water sports"), role-playing as non-adults, physical restraint, humiliation, female ejaculation, strangulation, facesitting, and fisting, with The Independent noting that the final three items are considered by the British Board of Film Censors to be "life-endangering." Cameron's ministers have suggested that the web censorship could be accomplished through payment providers or similar intermediaries, but that if that proves to be ineffective, legislation "could be introduced" to make it "an offence in the UK to publish pornography online without age verification controls, possibly with a regulator to oversee and enforce controls." (We hear AIDS Healthcare's Michael Weinstein is looking for a new job...) Apparently, 52 percent of all adult online viewing in the UK can be traced to just 10 adult sites, and that those contain free material and generally do not restrict viewership by age. "Whilst great progress has been made, we remain acutely aware of the risks and dangers that young people face online," said Joanna Shields, the minister for internet safety and security. "This is why we are committed to taking action to protect children from harmful content. Companies delivering adult content in the UK must take steps to make sure these sites are behind age verification controls." And if they aren't—an issue to be discussed at a planned "consultation" this Fall—England's internet could soon start to look like that of its former colony. Pictured: Khajuraho Lakshmana Temple, which legallyindia.com noted is "Not yet blocked." Would #Kamasutra books be banned for propagating #Unnaturalsex ? #pornban - See more at: http://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/bollywood/ram-gopal-varma-against-porn-ban-calls-it-regressive-2450806/#sthash.X7hBeIjq.dpufWould #Kamasutra books be banned for propagating #Unnaturalsex ?