• Source:JND
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INTERNET Service Providers are ordered to ban more than 60 website which contains pornographic material as per the order of The Department of Telecommunications (DoT). The orders are based on the judgement that came by two High Courts and for violating the IT Rules, 2021.

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has issued 4 letters to Internet Service Providers in which it clearly stated that 67 such websites must be banned. 63 websites as per the judgement of the Pune Court, and 4 websites as per the decision based on the 2018 judgement by Uttarakhand High Court and directions issued by the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY).

"MeitY following the foregoing Order (of the High Court of Uttarakhand) is read in conjunction with Rule 3(2)(b) of the Information Technology Code (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021. And because of some of the sexually explicit material available in the website mentioned below that tarnishes the image of female modesty, ordered immediate deletion (blocking) …websites/URLs”, DoT order of September 24.

The provision under the IT Rules 2021 induced by MeitY makes it compulsory for the Internet Service Providers to remove or disable the access to the stored or published which shows such individual in full or partial nudity or shows or depicts a such individual in any sexual act or conduct”.

Moreover, this provision by the government completely makes sense to be applicable in the instances of revenge pornography (posted without a person’s consent). However, it is still unclear whether the government took a fresh step after receiving some complaints from people whose private images were posted on these sites. Earlier in 2015, the government banned more than 800 such websites which had created a public furor.