South African Politicians Want To Ban All Porn Online

from the how-do-you-define-porn dept

Tue, Jun 1st 2010 12:17pm — Mike Masnick

What is it with politicians who don't understand basic concepts? Apparently, the Deputy Minister of Home Affairs in South Africa, Malusi Gigaba, thinks that it's possible to ban online porn. When people pointed out that it's just not that easy, he responded thusly:

"Cars are already provided with brakes and seatbelts... There is no reason why the internet should be provided without the necessary restrictive mechanisms built into it...."

Well, actually, Mr. Gigaba, there are plenty of perfectly legitimate reasons. Brakes and seatbelts have pretty easily defined tasks: slowing a car down and preventing you from flying forward in the event of a sudden stop. You can engineer that easily. What you can't engineer is a definition of porn that works. What is pornography? To each person it might be entirely different. How do you build a system that knows?

Furthermore, of course, there's a question of why you would even want to do so. That's not made at all clear in the article, but if you're talking about consenting adults trying to find some porn online, what's the problem with that?

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Filed Under: ban, malusi gigaba, porn, south africa

56 Comments

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a-dub (profile), 1 Jun 2010 @ 12:38pm

It's obvious that South Africa needs porn belts in order to protect people from porn crashes.
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- Max Peters, 24 Jun 2010 @ 11:17am
  
  Re:
  LMAO hehehe
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Jun 2010 @ 12:48pm

If anyone in the U.S. is computer savvy and looking for a job, this opportunity should last you the rest of your natural life.
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cc (profile), 1 Jun 2010 @ 12:48pm

From Slashdot:

"Related documents and the JASA's proposed bill can be found online, one of which has the wonderful title 'A reasonable and justifiable limitation on Freedom of Expression and Right to Privacy.'"
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m, 1 Jun 2010 @ 12:53pm

South Africa and Porn
South African politicians might be better off trying to solve real problems -- like their rape epidemic.
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- The Groove Tiger (profile), 1 Jun 2010 @ 1:05pm
  
  Re: South Africa and Porn
  Ah, but that's the issue here, everyone knows that people that watch porn become serial rapists.
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  - niks, 1 Jun 2010 @ 1:15pm
    
    Re: Re: South Africa and Porn
    what? 5.9 billion people on earth are serial rapists? lol
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  - Palmyra (profile), 1 Jun 2010 @ 1:31pm
    
    Re: Re: South Africa and Porn
    But Your Honor, I never put my hands on that box of Cheerios. ;)
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  - jane, 25 Jul 2010 @ 2:09am
    
    Re: Re: South Africa and Porn
    that is a very stupid thing to say. do you even know how many people watch porn? if every one who did was a serial rapist, then we wouldnt have any social or government structure. this country would be a version of a bad old zombie movie. you seem very uninsightful and i recomend that you do a little research before commenting again.
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- Humani, 2 Jun 2010 @ 3:15pm
  
  Re: South Africa and Porn
  My dear Sir (or Ma`am). pornography is a real problem. And hey, are you saying that no other problems should be tackled untill there is no more rape?
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- JewishNinja, 3 Jul 2010 @ 9:45am
  
  Re: South Africa and Porn
  What rape epidemic exactly?
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IronM@sk, 1 Jun 2010 @ 12:54pm

Eat Da Poo Poo
It's all about DA POO POO
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euXQbZDwV0w
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TheStupidOne, 1 Jun 2010 @ 12:57pm

I'll Help ...
Definition: Porn - any image depicting human skin other than face and hands. This applies to still images, movies, written descriptions, and artistic renderings.

Filter: Block the internet, it is all bad

...

PROFIT!
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- Blatant Coward (profile), 1 Jun 2010 @ 2:33pm
  
  Re: I'll Help ...
  Actually I have 27 gigs of facial porn right now, only 13 gigs of hand porn, but I have become a true fan of that as well.
  
  I think though my collection of South African politician porn is the hottest of em all!!!
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- OhMy, 1 Jun 2010 @ 4:41pm
  
  Re: I'll Help ...
  What about real life porn? Surely the real thing is just as bad as images or movies.
  
  Ban all nudity! And Sex! Watching it is bad, but participating is worse!
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- BRIGTORN, 31 Jul 2010 @ 12:20pm
  
  Looking 4 porn job
  Looking for porn jobs.
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Adam (profile), 1 Jun 2010 @ 1:00pm

I've got an idea...
"Furthermore, of course, there's a question of why you would even want to do so. That's not made at all clear in the article, but if you're talking about consenting adults trying to find some porn online, what's the problem with that?"

I don't know. Ask Steve Jobs? Apparently he's decided to protect Apple customers from the porn monster as well. Maybe South Africa can make a business deal and become Apple-exclusive!
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- TtfnJohn (profile), 1 Jun 2010 @ 6:36pm
  
  Re: I've got an idea...
  South Africa is working out a deal with Jobs and Apple as we speak so that the Republic of South Africa will soon be popularly known as iAfrica!
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Chryss, 1 Jun 2010 @ 1:16pm

Of course they can ban all porn. They can just take a page from the MAFIAA handbook and force all ISPs to filter these things. When the ISPs claim it's unreasonable, they can threaten them with an 'inducing porn watching' lawsuit.
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Jun 2010 @ 1:22pm

We really should start giving out awards for faulty car analogies. This one would win the silver, at least.
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- slander (profile), 1 Jun 2010 @ 2:42pm
  
  Re:
  BadAnalogyGuy for the gold...
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Dementia (profile), 1 Jun 2010 @ 1:22pm

Dear South African Politicians:

Good luck with that. Don't bother to keep us posted, we already know the outcome.
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Josef, 1 Jun 2010 @ 1:28pm

Porn???
I thought murder and rape were much bigger issues than porn, in South Africa.
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- minijedimaster (profile), 1 Jun 2010 @ 2:54pm
  
  Re: Porn???
  No, their number one problem is those lazy ass aliens in District 9 and their garbage scow of a ship floating over their city Johannesburg.
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- Gonzobot, 1 Jun 2010 @ 5:15pm
  
  Re: Porn???
  Obviously, the problem isn't as bad as you think, if they are concerned about pornography in other countries.
  
  Oh, wait, no, the SOLDIERS around there believe that by RAPING A BABY GIRL, you can CURE YOUR AIDS. The AIDS that you were given so you could help reduce 'unwanted' population.
  
  Read: Soldiers with AIDS raping women, children, and BABIES, is cheaper than the bullets to simply shoot them to death. And PORN is a bigger problem to the people in charge.
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- jane, 25 Jul 2010 @ 2:11am
  
  Re: Porn???
  im with you on that one my friend... seems our "lovely" government has theis priorities screwed up.
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Jo Denny, 1 Jun 2010 @ 4:34pm

LOL
LMAO, yeah right. Good luck with that. Thats just too funny dude.

www.anon-posting.at.tc
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theinterpreter, 1 Jun 2010 @ 4:42pm

learning
What I've learned so far from these responses is that District 9 aliens pose a larger threat and if we don't ban porn we will have alien serial rapists to deal with. Well damn! Now were definitely screwed!
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- Karl (profile), 1 Jun 2010 @ 4:59pm
  
  Re: learning
  Now were definitely screwed!
  
  Just not on camera.
  
  Personally, I think the President is just covering up his appearance in "Behind the Black Door XXVIII."
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theinterpreter, 1 Jun 2010 @ 4:48pm

RE: South Africa & Porn
Maybe the politicians are under the impression that porn is like second-hand smoke. Just smoke it because second hand is worse: just sex people, porn is more harmful.

Apart from the seat-belt analogy being fairly weak, I think "time" would be better than "porn". Thanks to South Korea & USA we've seen that excessive time spent on the internet causes obesity, kills babies, and causes stupidity.
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Max, 1 Jun 2010 @ 5:10pm

He's a busy man
So Sen. Stephen Conroy is moonlighting as someone else in South Africa?
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Jun 2010 @ 6:03pm

so easy
1. Propose an Internet WhiteList.
2. Cite Apple as your source of inspiration to legitimize your task.
3. Cite DMCA as an effective way to alter the list via user input.
4. Get job.
5. Spend rest of life browsing the Inteernet for an excessive pay check.
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Klustter, 1 Jun 2010 @ 6:16pm

should be banned world wide
this is an awesome action.. and i think it should be banned worldwide
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btr1701 (profile), 1 Jun 2010 @ 6:34pm

Jurisdiction
> Furthermore, of course, there's a question of why you would eve
> want to do so.

Furthermost, there's the question of jurisdiction even if you could do so. How does South Africa presume to regulate the entire world?
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Jun 2010 @ 8:00pm

>"Cars are already provided with brakes and seatbelts... There is no reason why the internet should be provided without the necessary restrictive mechanisms built into it...."

Humans are already provided with death by natural causes... There is no reason why large corporations based on monopolies should exist without similar mechanisms built into them, as well as something DMCA-style to prevent large corporations from cracking these mechanisms...
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Harry Oakes, 1 Jun 2010 @ 10:47pm

So ashamed
I feel so ashamed to read this. Unfortunately is this not only true, but it happens on a daily basis. SA is govenered by monkeys... no brains, no tact. We are the laughing stock of the world!
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- Anonymous Coward, 5 Feb 2017 @ 2:06am
  
  Re: So ashamed
  that's true
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Yogi, 1 Jun 2010 @ 11:27pm

Why?
Why is it that the only requirement for office is to be a good enough liar and hustler? Shouldn't we demand some minimum qualifications such as, perhaps, a brain functioning at an adult level? Is that too much to ask?
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- DH's Love Child, 2 Jun 2010 @ 7:18am
  
  Re: Why?
  "Why is it that the only requirement for office is to be a good enough liar and hustler? Shouldn't we demand some minimum qualifications such as, perhaps, a brain functioning at an adult level? Is that too much to ask?"
  
  um... apparently, YES! People with brains functioning at an adult level are smart enough to stay the hell away from politics.
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Chilly8, 2 Jun 2010 @ 12:11am

Like Australia's filter, such restrictions will never work. One could just sign on to a VPN outside of South Africa, and circumvent the filter.
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Pher, 2 Jun 2010 @ 12:48am

As a South African I can agree with most of the comments. We have way worse problems than porn, in fact it's proven that easy access to porn reduces violent crime against women. (http://www.hawaii.edu/PCSS/biblio/articles/1961to1999/1999-pornography-rape-sex-crimes-japan.html)

Just like everyone else in the world we also do not understand the logic of our politicians. With a president that has more than 3 wives, accused of rape and corruption and has completely uneducated underlings: Julius Malema, who publicly makes violent hate speech against whites on a regular basis. They even have a song about killing whites and goes on excursions to Zimbabwe and other countries run by corrupt dictators for "training". With all of this BS, we all (whites, blacks and others) sit here an wonder if there aren't any more pressing issues to attend to.

But I guess everyone has asshole politicians who don't know what the fuck they are doing
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Natas, 2 Jun 2010 @ 1:01am

Sorry guys!!
This is one of the many occasions where I have to admit that I am embarrassed to admit that I am South African. Please don't think that we are ALL backwards! Most of the backwards people are all in Parliament, government institutions.

The other day, there was an article in one of newspapers that was about how 90%, yes 90%, of PM's in our parliament, and other government officials had NO idea how to use a computer! So please, when you hear one of government officials talking about the electric internet... just ignore them..please
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Matt, 2 Jun 2010 @ 4:01am

Can't stop the porn
This is just an embarrassing display of ignorance from my countries leaders. Lets get something straight. Everyone else still wants the porn.
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Snookybear (profile), 2 Jun 2010 @ 5:35am

Africa and Porn sites
Maybe this will cut down on the spam and people begging for money from social networking sites.
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theinterpreter, 2 Jun 2010 @ 6:40am

no worries south african people
For all the South African's saying they are embarrassed to say they are from their home country, DON'T!! If people were to be based & judged on their political leaders, everyone's screwed.

Look at the USA. How many backwards people does it have in politics? Too many! Same goes with most every country. It's just part of being a politician. :)
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cams, 4 Jun 2010 @ 8:38pm

why ban porn
I can understand wanting to ensure minors have a harder time gaining access or makeing harser peneltys for people making or viewing child porn. But as an adult I feel it is my right to chose weather I want to watch porn or not. And for him to think he can ban porn is a joke in its self. But then again its just another politicin trying to control people and hold them to his standers
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kiki, 11 Jul 2010 @ 11:09pm

I'll help
I think banning porn is a great idea. Hope this plan goes through. I just wish the United States would do the same.
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davy alban, 16 Jul 2010 @ 7:07am

i WLD LOVE 2 BE A PORN STAR
HI i LYK 2 BE A PORN STAR I LYK SEX AND CAMERA TOO.
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- Anonymous Coward, 11 Oct 2010 @ 5:18pm
  
  Re: i WLD LOVE 2 BE A PORN STAR
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Sifiso Daniel khumalo, 16 Jul 2010 @ 10:41am

I'm looking for job to do porn
I know i'm still young and i have no choose I've been in abuse problem on sexually so many times that why i decide too be come a porn worker but if the is industry outside there who need some one, who have time and be come to him a sport that is me i'm available even for single womens out there, medium and fat ones i'm here i love it and i'm also hipper to do it come on.
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Sifiso Daniel khumalo, 16 Jul 2010 @ 11:01am

I'm looking for job to do porn
I know i'm still young and i have no choose I've been in abuse problem on sexually so many times that why i decide too be come a porn worker but if the is industry outside there who need some one, who have time and be come to him a sport that is me i'm available even for single womens out there, medium and fat ones i'm here i love it and i'm also hipper to do it come on.
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jazlene, 19 Jul 2010 @ 5:19pm

wtf...
HE CANT DO THAT SHIT.................
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Werner, 29 Jul 2010 @ 9:22am

Ban porn... carefully....
I dont mind this 'clever' Malusi Gigaba banning porn, but god hears me, if his so-called porn filters mistake my downloads / uploads as porn, and they are not, we will see each other more in court than what he will spend time in his bed. And by the way, it's not porn that causes child & women rapes. Stop looking for the fault in the wrong places. Up your governments policing, mr Gigaba. Give your convicted rapists the penalties they deserve, mr Gigaba. Tell your government to stop wasting money on crap, mr Gigaba, then, yes then maybe then we'll see child & women rapes, and not only those, but all other serious crimes decrease. In other words mr Gigaba, tell your government to start doing their job...

PS. Let's start converting these soon to be 'white elephants' stadiums into prisons.
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omii Punkx, 20 Aug 2010 @ 8:32pm

Like It Ever!
Nice WOrk SOuth afriCan POliTIcianX! :)
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vampirebabe, 19 Oct 2010 @ 5:08am

ditch porn and ditch jesus they are both useless
lol humans wasting money on porn , porn will go when you humans get converted into my slaves
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samuel welsh, 13 Apr 2011 @ 3:54am

go for it
good idea enforce this ban
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