Indian Government And Telcos Explore How To Build Great Firewall Of India To Censor Porn And Other 'Undesirable' Content

Free Speech

from the censorship-is-its-own-reward dept

Thu, Nov 20th 2014 8:11am — Mike Masnick

Over the last few years, we've noted that India is among those countries that have been increasingly looking to censor parts of the internet, with porn being a particular target. It appears that at least some of those plans are moving forward. News reports are detailing how government officials and a variety of telco execs recently all gathered to discuss how they might go about censoring the internet on a mass scale. From Medianama:

On September 5th 2014, 23 individuals, including Telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, CERT-IN head Gulshan Rai, government officials from DoT, Deity, CBI, as well as representatives of industry bodies like IAMAI, FICCI, ASSOCHAM, CII met in the Conference Room No. 1007 at the Department of Electronics and Information Technology (Deity) to discuss how such a filter might be implemented…Not whether there should be a filter at all, but how such a filter should be implemented.

In fact, when NASSCOM raised the issue of blocking legitimate content, the Telecom Minister, Ravi Shankar Prasad, who chaired the meeting, said that the “larger issue of respecting cultural values of the country and sentiments of the Indian society need to be considered and all possible ways and means may have to be devised in this context.”

Medianama details the many problems and concerns of such a plan, including the simple fact that plenty of legitimate content will likely be sucked up into this filter, that there's no transparency in what's blocked and what's allowed -- and that once a filter is in place, the intent and type of content blocked will inevitably increase.

It is truly worrisome that this is the world we're heading towards, where something that was once seen as only the sort of thing that happened in authoritarian countries like China and Iran will start to become the norm. And while the US is unlikely to go quite as far, it has to be acknowledged that the US government is all for censoring certain websites with little to no transparency or due process, meaning that the US doesn't even have a moral leg to stand on if it protests other countries setting up their own censorship regimes.

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: censorship, filter, free speech, great firewall, india, isps

24 Comments

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

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

Shadow Dragon (profile), 20 Nov 2014 @ 8:32am

Mo biggie
It would never work because, How techinaly adapt the younger generation could get passed that in blink of an eye. They're just grasping at straws on that issue.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 20 Nov 2014 @ 8:32am

No Surpise there...
A Caste system still runs strong in that place.

Political/Rich elites are near immune from the law!

Control the Plebs!!!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 20 Nov 2014 @ 8:36am

It's coming to US sooner or later. Remember how even Romney said he would be okay with a porn filter?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 20 Nov 2014 @ 9:13am

I see zero moral equivalence between the US asking that sites in China selling drugs over the internet without any prescriptions whatsoever and India contemplating the blocking of what it deems to comprise porn sites and the like.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Yes, I know I'm commenting anonymously, 20 Nov 2014 @ 9:14am

Internet-censoring is way closer to home than that: the US vassal state (GB) already has such a filter.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 20 Nov 2014 @ 9:29am

Re:
Let me help with you that.

A web site is merely a collection of bytes and code. It's not a drug -- prescription or otherwise.

If country A wants to censor porn and country B wants to censor so-called "hate speech" and country C wants to censor "extremist/terrorist speech" and country D wants to censor "anti-State" speech and country E wants to censor drug speech and country F wants to censor non-country-F speech, then all of them are engaged in censorship. It's just a question of what their purpose and methods are -- and whether you or I or anyone else happen to agree with those.

It's all easy to justify when one has an agenda: "oh, dear, we must, simply MUST, defend our little children from the poisonous ideas of the Elbonian separatists!" But it's still censorship and it's still repugnant.

Incidentally, it's a pity that the Indian government is concerning itself with a non-issue like this while failing to take substantive and effective against the rape culture that pervades their country and has been responsible for some absolutely horrific incidents. I suppose it's easier to sit around in comfortable meeting rooms with catered lunches and pontificate about principles than to get off your ass and actually investigate, arrest, try and convict the assholes responsible for gang rapes and murders.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 20 Nov 2014 @ 9:32am

something that is never put out is the list of names who decide what should be available to and visible to who. if porn is so bad, why doesn't the government stamp it out? the reason is simple, the governments everywhere dont want to because the industry brings in an absolute fortune every year, even though it's doubtful if the real amount owed to the governments is paid. as usual what the governments do is all for show. they have to be seen to be trying to stamp out a 'thing' while not stamping it out. it's the same with smoking. every government complains about the amount spent in medical care for those who smoke, but never stop it. all they do is complain about it and up the tax collected from the sales.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 20 Nov 2014 @ 9:35am

Why dont they build THEIR OWN DAMN internet, instead of corupting and warping the peoples internet, or is the fact that it IS the peoples internet that scares them into action
[ link to this | view in thread ]
John Fenderson (profile), 20 Nov 2014 @ 9:38am

Re:
I'm curious -- since you see no moral equivalence, which do you think is the one that's OK and which is the one that's not?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 20 Nov 2014 @ 10:31am

Worse yet is it sounds like part of the push for this censorship is public outrage over rape there, which has seen some high profile rape cases in the news lately. Yet, blocking porn will only likely make the rape problem worse.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 20 Nov 2014 @ 10:58am

It might be easier for them to promote the generation of more of their own content, a bit like the French supported their film industry to avoid being overrun by les Americaines.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Hephaestus (profile), 20 Nov 2014 @ 11:43am

Re:
Forget the porn filter, we need a stupidity filter to rid the internet of dumb politicians, and even dumber news anchors...
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 20 Nov 2014 @ 1:46pm

Re: Re:
Neither in my view is OK, but certainly a site that sells potentially lethal drugs without any limitations to the public is not one I am inclined to encourage remain actively engaged in commerce.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Rekrul, 20 Nov 2014 @ 2:32pm

It's funny how they have to "protect" their culture from something that users actually have to go out and search for.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
That One Guy (profile), 20 Nov 2014 @ 3:13pm

Typo
Over the last few years, we've noted that India is among those countries that have been increasingly looking to censor parts of the internet, with porn being a particular target.

You misspelled 'excuse'.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Zonker, 20 Nov 2014 @ 4:17pm

Censor Porn And Other 'Undesirable' Content
That's strange. To many people it seems that porn is actually quite desirable content, otherwise they wouldn't be spending so much money on it.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
That One Guy (profile), 20 Nov 2014 @ 5:03pm

Re: Censor Porn And Other 'Undesirable' Content
Yeah, but some people, and a whole lot of politicians, have a downright unhealthy obsession with what other people do in the privacy of their own homes and bedrooms. A giant pack of wannabe voyeurs if you will.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
LokSatta, 20 Nov 2014 @ 11:20pm

Useless politicians
Exactly what an already sexually frustrated country needs, less porn! Useless politicians and their right-wing agenda!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Richard (profile), 21 Nov 2014 @ 2:16am

Re:
the US vassal state (GB) already has such a filter.

Let me correct you

the US vassal state (GB) pretends to have such a filter.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
tqk (profile), 21 Nov 2014 @ 6:43am

Re:
Why dont they build THEIR OWN DAMN internet, instead of corupting and warping the peoples internet, or is the fact that it IS the peoples internet that scares them into action

Well, duh. Of course, this is an attempt to control the minds and bodies of people. That is how things like this should always be seen. The net is just the fulcrum. Power to control your thoughts and actions is what they seek.

Now you know what game is being played.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
John Fenderson (profile), 21 Nov 2014 @ 8:09am

Re: Re: Censor Porn And Other 'Undesirable' Content
"A giant pack of wannabe voyeurs if you will."

They should check out that porn, then. I think they'll find quite a lot of it is aimed directly at voyeurs.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Yes, I know I'm commenting anonymously, 21 Nov 2014 @ 10:06am

Re: Re:
In practice: point taken.
In politics: it's there, whether it works is irrelevant.

All the excuse another country needs to establish their own version is an established `democracy' to point to.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
RonKaminsky (profile), 22 Nov 2014 @ 4:10am

How will they define porn?
I wonder how they'll define "porn" (besides: "whatever the government doesn't like"), considering the cultural heritage of the Kama Sutra and its ilk?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Hitler, 24 Nov 2014 @ 9:45pm

Starve India for FUN!
I will be eating my turkey and my cake on Thanksgiving Day! I am a gay man. Happy Thanksgiving to all the Indians starving to death in India! I would love to kill you myself but I am not there! HA HA HA! Enjoy starving to death India! Hitler sends his love!
[ link to this | view in thread ]