Skip to main content

Order blocking porn sites a Modi "ruse" to create a government controlled web filter in India?, wonders NYT

By A Representative
In a stinging article, the “New York Times” (NYT) has accused the Government of India (GoI) of “blocking” India’s 857 porn sites “without warning or explanation”, in defiance of a Supreme Court “decision.” Quoting Nikhil Pahwa, editor and publisher of MediaNama, which monitors digital policy, NYT says, this has sent fears that the GoI is “using pornography as ‘a ruse’ to create a government-controlled web filter for India.”
“This one is a clear attempt by this government to control the Internet in India,” the top American daily quotes the expert as saying. “It’s not just one incident. There are numerous battles, all linked to one another, for free speech and Internet freedom that are being fought in the country right now”.
Interestingly, the Modi government has followed footsteps of Pakistan, where the government similarly blocked 1,000 sites in 2011, with the decision to add "more" to the list. The Pak decision also led to internet service providers saying there was a list of "over 170,000 websites", and it was "not feasible for any operator" to block all of them.
Qualifying the Modi government decision as the single most important incident of banning so many number of websites at one time, David Barstow, writing in NYT says, the Government of India just followed the list provided by “an anti-pornography activist.” And no sooner the blocking was effective, there was a rush to see whether particular sites had been blocked.
“Within hours, social media platforms in India lit up with complaints from people trying to visit pornography sites only to find either a blank screen or a cryptic message saying the site had been blocked ‘per instructions’ from India’s Department of Telecommunications”, NYT says.
“Because the government made no official announcement about why it was censoring so many websites, much remained unclear about its intentions, including how it chose which sites to block. According to Internet service providers in India, thousands of other pornography websites were unaffected by the order”, it adds.
The top daily underlines, “Adding to the confusion, the government acted just weeks after India’s Supreme Court declined a request to block access to online pornography. In rejecting the request, India’s chief justice, HL Dattu, said adults had a fundamental right to watch pornography within the privacy of their own homes.”
The man who whose list the Government of India acted is Kamlesh Vaswani, a lawyer who failed to persuade the Supreme Court to block online pornography. NYT notes, now, after the blocking instructions went out to internet service providers, he thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for “taking a step that the Supreme Court would not.”
Vaswani, 43, is a private lawyer from Madhya Pradesh “decided” to begin a legal crusade against online pornography in response to the brutal gang rape of a 23-year-old woman on a New Delhi bus in 2012. With help from a college engineering professor, Vaswani “analyzed” traffic data for pornography websites and came up with a list of the most popular sites. This list of 857 websites is what he asked the Supreme Court to block.
“After the Supreme Court rejected his petition, Vaswani gave his list of 857 websites to Pinky Anand, once a top lawyer for Mr. Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party and now a top lawyer for Mr. Modi’s government. It was Ms. Anand, he said, who delivered his list to the Department of Telecommunications”, NYT notes.
The letter asking internet service providers to block pornographic sites did not give any reason, NYT says, quoting Dinesh Chandran of the Asianet Satellite Communication Ltd. “It is a simple letter with instructions to block the aforesaid websites The government gives no explanation for why it wants a website blocked, and internet service providers have little choice but to comply. For us, the Department of Telecommunications is the government.”
As for government officials, they too have no explanation. While one official, quoted by NYT, says, the decision to block the sites was taken because they were “found to be spreading antisocial activities as hyperlinks”, another said, “the ban was temporary, in place only until the government adopted new regulations to block child pornography.”

Comments

Post a Comment

TRENDING

Wave of disappearances sparks human rights fears for activists in Delhi

By Harsh Thakor*  A philosophy student from Zakir Hussain College, Delhi University, and an activist associated with Nazariya magazine, Rudra, has been reported missing since the morning of July 19, 2025. This disappearance adds to a growing concern among human rights advocates regarding the escalating number of detentions and disappearances of activists in Delhi.
Post a Comment
»

How community leaders overcome obstacles to protect forests and pastures in remote villages

By Bharat Dogra  Dheera Ram Kapaya grew up in such poverty that, unable to attend school himself, he would carry another boy’s heavy school bag for five kilometers just to get a scoop of daliya (porridge). When he was finally able to attend school, he had to leave after class five to join other adolescent workers. However, as soon as opportunities arose, he involved himself in community efforts—promoting forest protection, adult literacy, and other constructive initiatives. His hidden talent for writing emerged during this time, and he became known for the songs and street play scripts he created to promote forest conservation, discourage child marriages, and support other social reforms.
Post a Comment
»

‘Act of war on agriculture’: Aruna Rodrigues slams GM crop expansion and regulatory apathy

By Rosamma Thomas*  Expressing appreciation to the Union Agriculture Minister for inviting suggestions from farmers and concerned citizens on the sharp decline in cotton crop productivity, Aruna Rodrigues—lead petitioner in the Supreme Court case ongoing since 2005 that seeks a moratorium on genetically modified (GM) crops—wrote to Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on July 14, 2025, stating that conflicts of interest have infiltrated India’s regulatory system like a spreading cancer, including within the Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR).
Post a Comment
»

The GMO illusion: Three decades of hype, harm, and false hope

By Sridhar Radhakrishnan  Three decades of hype, billions of dollars spent, and still no miracle crop. It's time to abandon the GMO biotech fairy tale and return to the soil, the seed, and the farmer. “Trust us,” they said. “GMOs will feed the world.” Picture a world where there is plenty of food, no hunger, fields grow without chemical pesticides, children are saved from malnutrition, and people live healthily.
Post a Comment
»

Sandra Gonzalez Sanabria: An inspiring life from Colombia’s Amazonian valley

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat*  In the village of Héctor Ramírez, known as Agua Bonita, in La Montañita, Caquetá, Colombia, a vision of peace and renewal is unfolding. In the pre-2016 period, this would have been nearly impossible for outsiders to visit, as it was the epicenter of violent resistance against state oppression. However, after the Peace Accord was signed between the Colombian government and former revolutionaries—marking the end of a 70-year insurgency that claimed over 400,000 lives until 2025, including civilians, rebel fighters, and security personnel—things began to change. Visiting Agua Bonita during the Global Land Forum in Bogotá revealed a village of hope and resilience. Former FARC revolutionaries have settled here and transformed the village into a center of peace and aspiration.
Post a Comment
»

Overriding India's constitutional sovereignty? Citizens urge PM to reject WHO IHR amendments

By A Representative   A group of concerned Indian citizens, including medical professionals and activists, has sent an urgent appeal to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him to reject proposed amendments to the International Health Regulations (IHR) before the ratification deadline of July 19, 2025. 
Post a Comment
»

Indigenous Karen activist calls for global solidarity amid continued struggles in Burma

By A Representative   At the International Festival for People’s Rights and Struggles (IFPRS), Naw Paw Pree, an Indigenous Karen activist from the Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG), shared her experiences of oppression, resilience, and hope. Organized with the support of the International Indigenous Peoples Movement for Self-Determination and Liberation (IPMSDL), the event brought together Indigenous and marginalized communities from across the globe, offering a rare safe space for shared learning, solidarity, and expression.
Post a Comment
»

Activists allege abduction and torture by Delhi Police Special Cell in missing person probe

By A Representative   A press statement released today by the Campaign Against State Repression (CASR) alleges that several student and social activists have been abducted, illegally detained, and subjected to torture by the Delhi Police Special Cell. The CASR claims these actions are linked to an investigation into the disappearance of Vallika Varshri, an editorial team member of 'Nazariya' magazine.
Post a Comment
»

India’s zero-emission, eco-friendly energy strategies have a long way to go, despite impressive progress

By N.S. Venkataraman*   The recent report released by OPEC’s World Oil Outlook 2025 has predicted that by the year 2050, crude oil would replace coal as India’s key energy source. Clearly, OPEC expects that India’s dependence on fossil fuels for energy will continue to remain high in one form or another.
Post a Comment
»