The Union Ministry of Communications and Information Technology has referred a plea that called for a ban porn websites to the Cyber Law Division under the Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY).
Acting on a requisition from Telangana, the Department wanted the Group Coordinator of Cyber Law Division to take a call on the plea. Under the Information Technology Act of 2000, any decision to block a website or group of websites for public access must be taken by the Group Coordinator. After getting the DeitY nod, the Department of Telecommunications will direct the Internet Service Providers (ISPs).
“None but the officers designated by the rules notified under the IT Act can decide whether to block a site or not,” a senior Government officer said in the letter.
While requesting the Centre to block the porn sites, the Telangana Government has stated that ISPs have been transmitting certain, violating the 67, 67A and 67B of the IT Act of 2000. The list of ISPs included Airtel, Aircel, Hathway, Beam Telecom, Idea Cellular, Reliance Communications, Tata DoCoMo, Tata Indicom, Vodafone and Dvois Broad Band.
“The State government has asked the IT Ministry to direct ISPs to employ tools to filter the objectionable material being transmitted through the web in the State,” the officer said.
The State also wanted curbs on certain e-commerce firms that are selling “objectionable products” illegally.
The State’s letter was a follow-up of recommendations of a high-level committee set up by the Government in September to ensure safety of women. One of the suggestions included banning of porn content in the internet.