Camelia Pasandaran & Ismira Lutfia – The government on Wednesday announced plans to block access to pornographic Web sites, but many doubt it actually has the means to effectively enforce such a ban.
The minister of communications and information technology, Tifatul Sembiring, said the contentious Internet filter plan would be up and running within one or two months. "We should not wait too long because more people will copy the material," he said.
Tifatul, who is from the conservative Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), said the plan was driven by a request from the Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI) to restrict access to pornography on the Internet.
According to the minister, the move was in keeping with the controversial Anti-Pornography Law passed in 2008. One of its articles states "that the state should protect its citizens from the dangers of pornography."
"So, God willing, we will fulfill our obligations, otherwise the continued presence of this material will undermine our laws," Tifatul said.
The Anti-Pornography Law has been the subject of heated public debate, with critics arguing that it lacks clarity and is open to interpretation.
Some provinces, including Bali and North Sulawesi, have refused to comply with the law on the grounds that its vague articles could lead to many cultural dances and traditions being classified as pornographic. Numerous civil society organizations challenged the law at the Constitutional Court earlier this year, but their case was rejected.
Tifatul said pornographic Web sites based overseas would be filtered out, while those based in Indonesia would be simply closed down.
"For international Web sites, as they have to go through Indonesian Internet service providers, we will request the ISP block them," he said.
He dismissed concerns that compiling the blacklist would be highly subjective, saying the ministry would use specialized software to develop a "standard" definition of pornography.
KPAI chairman Hadi Supeno said the government controls would only cover Web sites with "harmful content," such as pornography, gambling and excessive violence.
He said Web sites with explicit images, videos and text depicting sexual activities would harm children, who he claimed made up the majority of Internet users.
According to Hadi, KPAI data showed there were 4.2 million Web sites and 400 million Web pages displaying pornographic material, including 200,000 sites featuring child pornography. "We cannot just do nothing about this, and we are waiting for the minister to make good on his promise," he said.
Meanwhile, Muhammad Jumadi, from the Indonesian Telecommunications Users Group, said filtering content would be far from easy.
"It would only be possible for specific porn Web sites, for example Playboy, but there are countless Web sites that are less obvious," he said, adding that it would be nearly impossible to monitor every blacklisted site individually because they could easily be moved or camouflaged.
He also said measures to filter content would be largely ineffective because most people accessed the Internet from home on their personal computers.
Valens Riyadi, from the Indonesian Internet Service Providers Association (APJII), said the plan would only be feasible if the ministry provided ISPs with a list of Web sites it deemed harmful.
"The clearance to block access to these sites should come from the ministry so that we have a clear reference," he said.