Reliance Jio has quietly
blocked hundreds of pornographic websites from its network following the
directives from DOT (Department of Telecom). Though this is not officially
announced, most of the Jio users have started experiencing this blockage and
reported on various social platforms.
Reliance Jio is an
Internet Service Provider (ISP) which has its own network and it beams high
quality data at 4G speeds at very affordable rates. This has pushed India to
become the Top Data consumer in the world, even surpassing USA. With the launch
of affordable and cheap feature phones like JioPhone and JioPhone2, the
consumer base has expanded further.
In a judgement in
September 2018, Uttarakhand Court had
passed orders directing all ISP (Internet Service Providers) to ban adult sites
in compliance with a past directive from DOT (Department of Telecom). “All the
internet service licensees are instructed to take immediate necessary action
for blocking of 827 websites as per the direction from MeiTY and for the
compliance of the Honorable High Court order,” said MeiTY in an order issued to
Department of Telecom.
The judgement was in the
case of a Gang rape in Dehradun in which the culprits were schoolchildren and
were most likely influenced by alleged porn clips. Jio is the first ISP to
comply with this order and has set an example for others to follow. It is to be
seen, how others would take this path.
India is not the only
country to restrict access to online erotic content, several other countries
have done it. Most notably, China where around 4000 porn websites are block
every month. Several types of web content are blocked in India including sites with file sharing, torrent sites, sites
with disturbing materials, with child abuse or child pornography etc.
Reliance Jio risk of
losing several customers after this development, but its most likely that other
telco's will have to abide by this rule one day or other. With Jio being the
first, other telcos will come under pressure to comply with both court orders
and government regulations.
No comments:
Post a Comment