Govt Orders DoT To Ban 857 Porn Sites

New Delhi: Based on the Uttarakhand High Court directive which has asked the Ministry of Electronics and IT to block 857 websites, the government has directed Internet service providers to block the sites . The Ministry of Electronics and IT (MEIT) found only 30 portals without any pornographic content.

The Ministry asked the Department of Telecom (DoT) to block 827 websites named in the list issued as part of the order.

"... 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 Hon'ble High Court order," the Department of Telecom said in an order issued to internet service providers.

The Uttarakhand high court issued the order on September 27, 2018, and it was received by Meity on October 8.

Meanwhile the Supreme Court has fixed November 15 as the deadline for the central government to frame Standard Operating Procedure to handle complaints involving child pornography – child sexual abuse material, rape/gang rape and obscene contents online.

It has also directed the government to give a copy of the Standard Operating Procedure to internet service providers, Google, Yahoo, Whatsapp, Facebook and Microsoft- who may make their suggestions to the Ministry of Home Affairs by 9th November, 2018. This order was issued in pursuance of a PIL filed by an Hyderabad based NGO Prajwala which was seeking the court’s intervention in stopping circulation of child pornography and sexual assault videos.

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