Govt starts blocking 500 major porn sites

In an unprecedented move, the Bangladesh government started blocking major porn websites from yesterday.
Earlier, the Ministry of Post and Telecommunication (MoPT) has listed down names of 500 porn websites and send it to the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC).
The list is forwarded by the telecom regulator to internet service providers (ISP) as well as to international internet getaway (IIG) service providers who have started taking the actions right away.
Talking toThe Independent, BTRC Chairman Dr Shahjahan Mahmud said, “We have taken the steps of blocking those porn websites as per the directive of State Minister Tarana Halim.”
He said that previously, the BTRC blocked around 100 other websites which contained materials that could create security threats to the country.
“We have already blocked down around 100 websites which the government had considered as ‘security threats’ and potential enabler of promoting militancy in the country. Now we are closing down these porn sites to uphold social values,” the BTRC chief added.
When asked whether proxy server will be used by the internet users to access the porn websites, the BTRC chairman said that it’s not possible to completely shut down access to any website. “There will always be other ways but we are trying to identify those and shut those as well.”
Meanwhile, about the closure, Tarana Halim said that initially they have decided to block around 500 websites that contain pornography, obscene pictures and video contents. In the first phase they will go for blocking the locally hosted sites.About 70 to 80 percent of the pornography sites, operated from overseas, would also be blocked in phases, Tarana added.

Govt starts blocking 500 major porn sites

In an unprecedented move, the Bangladesh government started blocking major porn websites from yesterday. Earlier, the Ministry of Post and Telecommunication (MoPT) has listed down names of 500 porn websites and send it to the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC). The list is forwarded by the telecom regulator to internet service providers (ISP) as well as to international internet getaway (IIG) service providers who have started taking the actions right away. Talking toThe Independent, BTRC Chairman Dr Shahjahan Mahmud said, We have taken the steps of blocking those porn websites as per the directive of State Minister Tarana Halim. He said that previously, the BTRC blocked around 100 other websites which contained materials that could create security threats to the country. We have already blocked down around 100 websites which the government had considered as security threats and potential enabler of promoting militancy in the country. Now we are closing down these porn sites to uphold social values, the BTRC chief added. When asked whether proxy server will be used by the internet users to access the porn websites, the BTRC chairman said that its not possible to completely shut down access to any website. There will always be other ways but we are trying to identify those and shut those as well. Meanwhile, about the closure, Tarana Halim said that initially they have decided to block around 500 websites that contain pornography, obscene pictures and video contents. In the first phase they will go for blocking the locally hosted sites.About 70 to 80 percent of the pornography sites, operated from overseas, would also be blocked in phases, Tarana added.