Ban porn on SA cells, internet - dept

2010-05-28 22:53

Cape Town - Deputy Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba is looking at ways to ban pornography on the internet and cellphones.

Gigaba met the Justice Alliance of South Africa (Jasa) this week to discuss its draft legislation on the matter.

He said this was part of his ongoing work in "providing stewardship" to the Films and Publication Board (FPB).

Jasa director John Smyth presented the draft bill and the legal opinion on the constitutional issues related to the bill.

Jasa's draft internet and cellphone pornography bill proposed that pornography be filtered out at the tier one service providers to avoid it entering the country.

The bill was aimed at the total ban of pornography on the internet and mobile phones.

Gigaba said it was noted that unlike in the physical world where a reasonable effort could be made for pornography to be kept away from children, in the online world, pornographic sites were often "parked deliberately next door" to educational sites, often with names almost identical.

Electronic channels

Current legislation, particularly the Film and Publication Act, provided for a ban on child pornography, whereas the proposed bill provided for a total ban on pornography on these electronic channels using the wider definition of pornography already available in the Sexual Offences Act.

"Cars are already provided with brakes and seatbelts; it is not an extra that consumers have to pay for.

"There is no reason why the internet should be provided without the necessary restrictive mechanisms built into it," Gigaba said.

He had asked the Law Reform Commission (LRC) to provide advice on the possibility of legislating against pornography on the internet, television and mobile phones.

The LRC was currently researching the matter, Gigaba said.

- SAPA

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