"In compliance with the provision of the (IT) Act, websites/portals and ISPs should deploy filters/technological tools to block/disable any such child sexual abuse images, videos and text available on the Internet," a draft prepared by India’s Ministry of Information Technology read.
This draft is in conformity with the recent order by India’s apex court which asks the government to formulate a strategy to ban content related to child abuse on the Internet.
"The Center (Central Government) shall file an affidavit to suggest ways and means to curb child pornography. Innocent children can't be made prey to this kind of painful situation and a nation cannot afford to carry on any experiment on children in the name of liberty or for that matter freedom of speech and expression," a bench of Justice Dipak Misra and Shiva Kirti Singh said earlier this year.
Service providers are waiting for instructions from the government on which websites to block. President at the Internet Service Providers Association of India, Rajesh Chharia, told Sputnik, "This is a big nuisance on the Internet. It is very much possible to totally blackout content related to child abuse. All these restrictions can be made on the URL basis. Websites keep on changing their names, domain addresses from time to time, but we will have to keep tabs on all these developments. This is an ongoing process."
On September 19, India launched the country’s first internet hotline to report images and videos of child sexual abuse online.
[1/2] Launched Internet hotline against online child sexual abuse imagery, developed by Aarambh India. pic.twitter.com/UFChIzQSZ1
— Ministry of WCD (@MinistryWCD) 19 сентября 2016 г.
Currently, violations of regulations related to child abuse carry a five-year prison term. Last year, the Indian government blocked more than 850 websites related to child pornography.
