Indonesian Politician Who Passed Strict Anti-Porn Laws Caught Watching Porn On His iPad... In Parliament

from the i'm-sure-it-was-just-for-research dept

Wed, Apr 13th 2011 5:54am — Mike Masnick

What is it with moralizing politicians who scream and legislate against some moral "evil," and then are later caught being heavily involved in just such a thing? The latest such example comes from Indonesia, where a politician by the name of Arifinto, who was an avid supporter of a controversial anti-porn law that is extremely strict (it prohibits broadcasting, possessing and storing pornographic material -- along with forbidding kissing in public, exposing a woman's "sensual" parts or showing any erotica), has been caught viewing porn on his iPad while sitting in Parliament and "listening" to a debate about a new Parliamentary building. Arifinto quickly stepped down from Parliament, but I'm surprised no one's blamed the iPad yet...

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: arifinto, indonesia, porn

26 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

Skippy T. Mut, 13 Apr 2011 @ 6:35am

But who's really to blame here...
...If Apple hadn't developed the iPad to begin with none of this would have happened to him. I'm sure he didn't go searching for the porn and would (and has never) looked at porn through any other means. Damn you, Apple for destroying perfectly moral and decent people by forcing your adulteryPad on all of us!!!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- ChurchHatesTucker (profile), 13 Apr 2011 @ 10:20am
  
  Re: But who's really to blame here...
  There's clearly a case to be made for Apple 'inducing' violation of the law.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Cowardly Anon, 13 Apr 2011 @ 6:45am

But....but...but....I thought you could only look at porn on Android devices? Apple is squeaky clean and doesn't have porn on it! Steve Jobs said so himself! He said Apple had a moral responsibility!!!

How could such a thing happen......?

That iPad must have been malfunctioning! Yes, that's it. *nodnod*
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 13 Apr 2011 @ 8:00am
  
  Re:
  Happened to see the photo of the said incident in a local paper, I do wonder if there's a 7 inch iPad available in Indonesia only... The tablet in question seems smaller...
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Killer_Tofu (profile), 13 Apr 2011 @ 6:55am

You know what that means?
Andrew Cuomo loves child pron.
We all know how much he has crusaded against it.

(While I agree its bad, I think he wrongly targeted tech companies when they are obviously not the cause of it)

After all, he even wanted a big database of it. Seems quite suspicious now.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
coldbrew, 13 Apr 2011 @ 6:56am

Ban the iPad now!
It's obviously a tool for terrorism, and, some say, banning it will save $2T dollars!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Chronno S. Trigger (profile), 13 Apr 2011 @ 7:05am
  
  Re: Ban the iPad now!
  How much money has Apple made off of those iPads? That's money that could have gone to those poor starving RIAA executives.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 13 Apr 2011 @ 7:19am

Special Case
Ok, shouldn't a politician or elected official work to establish laws wanted by and favored by their constituency? This particular parliament member did just that, regardless of what he felt personally. While he could have been more discrete in his viewing habits, he should be applauded for putting his constituents first.

Or maybe, just maybe he was being shown the porn so that he see that his legislation wasn't working?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Dark Helmet (profile), 13 Apr 2011 @ 7:29am
  
  Re: Special Case
  "While he could have been more discrete in his viewing habits, he should be applauded for putting his constituents first."
  
  New rule: if your constituency is made up of roughly half men over the age of 16, you don't get to try to pretend that they're in favor of any law reducing the amount of bouncing meat bags and vaginas they can see. Ever.
  
  That is all....
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Anonymous Coward, 13 Apr 2011 @ 8:43am
    
    Re: Re: Special Case
    +1
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Berenerd (profile), 13 Apr 2011 @ 7:29am

But....but...but...
PIRACY!!!!!

I am willing to bet it was illegally downloaded too
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 13 Apr 2011 @ 7:38am

This is just another form of self-hate manifesting itself, I see this (not this particular example) all the time. Or it's just politically motivated because it was what was convenient for him.

Remember, politicians don't actually lobby for what they believe in. It's who's paying the bills, and how they're going to keep their position that they're concerned with.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 13 Apr 2011 @ 7:39am

things is, he probably thought if every1 else was watching porn, the web would run out and he wouldn't be able to get his share
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 13 Apr 2011 @ 8:06am

I think there's mistake here. I'm Indonesian and based on local newspaper, http://nasional.kompas.com/read/2011/04/12/21082687/Kalau.Enggak.Melawan.Enggak.Dipecat., Arifinto was using his Galaxy Tab, not an iPad.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Rikuo (profile), 13 Apr 2011 @ 10:35am
  
  Re:
  not to be rude or anything, but what difference does it make what device he used? The important facts are he's an anti-porn politician, caught watching porn while supposedly listening to a speech in parliament.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Shon Gale (profile), 13 Apr 2011 @ 8:15am

I am not surprised. It is always the holiest that is the greatest sinner. In the eyes of religion anyway.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Chief Elf (profile), 13 Apr 2011 @ 10:05am

Clarification
Mike, in case your initial question wasn't purely rhetorical, here's my take on it.

It's not simply a matter of politicians trying to prevent others from enjoying what they themselves enjoy. It's that there are people who want to hold themselves to a high standard and discover they can't do it by themselves. In the case of "porn", a person may disapprove of it and want to refrain from looking at it themselves, but the temptation turns out to be stronger than their willpower. These folks need external controls to make up for their insufficient self-control.

When these folks hold political office, I suspect many of them rationalize this way: Porn is bad/wrong, therefore it should be prohibited.

The fact that they disapprove of it, publicly or privately, has nothing to do with their own lack self-control.

From this perspective, their political position not elitism or hypocritical, it's just poor reasoning based on personal values. The problem isn't their personal values, it's their poor reasoning on civil governance.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
This comment has been flagged by the community. Click here to show it

PFinn (profile), 13 Apr 2011 @ 10:48am

I don't think that it matters if he watched the pornography on an ipad, a Galaxy tab, an iphone, a droid, a laptop, or a PC... He watched it in Parliament when he passed legislature against pornography, in general. He's a hypocrite. This is very alarming, yet not surprising that a politician goes against his words. Also, if anyone is interested in creating a great mobile website, head over to www.web2mobile.co It is very easy for anyone to use! But, I am passing this article around my office, to show everyone this ridiculousness!!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Rikuo (profile), 13 Apr 2011 @ 11:11am
  
  Re:
  there's a time and place for advertisements, and comments on Techdirt ain't one of them.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- PFinn (profile), 13 Apr 2011 @ 1:33pm
  
  Re:
  I really feel bad that I made this look like somewhat of an advertisement. I thought I'd mention it w2m people who would honestly really like the software--tech people like myself. I am sorry that I brought it up here. I never do things like this, and Rikuo made me feel extremely bad!! I apologize once again. If i could re-write this comment, I would completely not include w2m, at all. Again, I am sorry!
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Dan, 13 Apr 2011 @ 2:38pm
    
    Re: Re:
    A few more apologies should just about cover it...
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
PFinn (profile), 13 Apr 2011 @ 12:54pm

Yup you are right, that was wrong of me. Sorry everyone! I just thought I'd throw it in. If i could take it down, than I would.. But I did pass this along to everyone in my office because this article is ridiculous! I am very sorry for the misunderstanding!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Sarah, 13 Apr 2011 @ 1:06pm

AH! That is really awful!
I can't believe that this man who was so against pornography--to pass laws against it would go against that and look at porn on his hand-held tablet. It doesn't make sense to me! What an awful decision on his part. He really messed up big time there, and really made politicians, EVERYWHERE look bad!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Sarah, 13 Apr 2011 @ 1:11pm

AH! That is really awful!
I can't believe that this man who was so against pornography--to pass laws against it would go against that and look at porn on his hand-held tablet. It doesn't make sense to me! What an awful decision on his part. He really messed up big time there, and really made politicians, EVERYWHERE look bad!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 13 Apr 2011 @ 1:21pm

Pervert. And it really should not matter what he looked at the porn from, it could have been through binoculars- he still should NOT have done it. ew.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
News Monkey, 13 Apr 2011 @ 8:19pm

The real comments on the issue
Click the link and see what some Indonesians think about the issue.

and oh, by the way, watch what you say about Stevie Boy Jobs and Apple, me thinks the device in the photo is not a iPad, so Apple may come after you!:-P

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2011/04/09/pks-quiz-arifinto-pornography-claims.html
[ link to this | view in chronology ]