Govt can't block porn websites: Report

New Delhi, Feb 11: The recent amendment to the Information Technology (IT) Act 2000 has stripped the government off the power to block porn websites on the grounds of obscenity, said a newspaper report.

"Sites like Savita Bhabi, in other words, can no longer be banished from the virtual world merely because they don't conform to a babu's subjective moral view. Now, the courts alone can block such sites," Times of India reported.

The bar for the executive power to block porn websites has been raised with the new Section 69A, which came into effect on Oct 27, 2009.

Now, the ammended Section 69 allows government to block the 'offensive' websites only if they cause a 'public order' problem.

"Savita Bhabi, for instance, can hardly start a riot," the newspaper report stated wittily.

The law, which seems to have been carefully crafted to keep the government from indulging in moral policing, limits the government's power to ban websites to offences relating to five specific grounds, namely sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of the state, friendly relations with foreign states and public order.

"While making porn sites immune to executive interference, the amended IT law has enhanced the scope for judicial intervention," the Thursday, Feb 11 newspaper report added.

OneIndia News