Lilian Budianto, Jakarta – The House of Representatives is set to pass a bill today (Tuesday) that would jail users and providers of pornographic websites, despite fears the legislation could victimize receivers of unsolicited email containing adult content.
When the bill comes into effect, providers and users of pornographic sites will face a maximum of three years in prison or a fine of up to Rp 1 billion (around US$107 million).
"I agree if the bill is aimed at protecting children from accessing adult sites. But I am afraid the police will see it as a chance to extort money from people receiving spam porn emails," Zatni Arbi of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences said Monday.
He said the police could conduct raids before spam receivers had deleted the offending emails and accuse them of violating the law.
An information technology expert, Zatni feared the government's efforts to block obscene sites and emails would not work.
"The draft law may raise a good point but I am worried about the implementation. Censoring is not that easy, as violators can easily find tricks to access and provide porn sites," he said.
The Information and Communications Ministry has made available software to block websites with adult content. The software can be downloaded from the ministry's website. It plans to begin blocking all adult sites starting April 1.
Some observers have warned the government may use its declared war on online pornography as an excuse to take action against other information deemed detrimental to the regime.
The number of Internet users in the country is expected to hit 35 million this year, a 40 percent increase from 2007.
Vice president of the Indonesia Telematics Software Association, Richard Kartawijaya, once said about a half of new Internet users in the country admitted to being tempted to access pornographic sites. Adult sites rank among the top 10 most visited websites on various search engines.
Information minister Muhammad Nuh said the government would call on individuals, corporate users and Internet service providers to help block adult sites. "We expect to raise people's awareness of the need to minimize Internet abuse. We hope people use the software we have provided," he said.
He said the government had no intention to criminalize Internet users through the bill, but was seeking to educate people.
The draft law, which has been debated at the House since 2005, also spells out the standard legal grounds for all electronic transactions and stipulates overseas requirements the country's bank should meet for such transactions.
It also includes provisions criminalizing computer hackers and any activities that use others' Internet domains or change and delete information on certain sites.
Police are entitled to confiscate evidence from people suspected of violating the law, including their computers.
Those violating the provisions will face a maximum eight years in jail or a fine of up to Rp 2 billion.
Legislators said the bill was necessary to prevent Internet abuse and help meet the public demand for goods and services bought electronically. It will also help secure the trust of foreign investors and generate more inter-market transactions.