Internet Blocking & Regulation
Mar 28th, 2008, in News, by PatungGovernment efforts to regulate the internet and block access to porn websites.
Cyber Law
On 25th March a new law on information and electronic transactions (UU Informasi Transaksi Elektronik, ITE) was passed by the parliament in Jakarta. Much of the interest in it focuses on what is forbidden by the law, which is set out in Section 8, Articles 27 to 37.
Article 27:
anyone who deliberately and without rights distributes/transmits/makes accessible electronic information/electronic documents with content that
- violates decency (kesusilaan)
- involves gambling
- is libellous
- is threatening
Article 28 forbids the spreading of lies over the internet (1) and hate speech (2) directed towards particular groups, based on racial, ethnic or religious differences (SARA).
For both articles violations of the law may lead to imprisonment of up to six years and fines up to 1 billion rupiah ($110,000).
Blocking Sites
Muhammad Nuh, the minister for Information, said three methods to block “unhealthy” (pornographic, hateful, violent) sites could be used: tempo antara
- educate people to avoid them
- provide people with “nanny” software to block them
- restrict the internet access of schools, campuses, offices, etc (involving blocking direct connections from abroad by using a gateway)
These specific measures against porn sites and others are expected to be set out in one or more ministerial edicts, and due to come into effect in April or May. The “nanny” software is already available for download from the Information ministry website.
However he says that the plan to block adult sites is more of a “moral vision” and that the government is limited in what it can do and needs the help of ISP’s and internet cafe operators.
If the ISP’s and warnets only succeed in restricting access [to inappropriate sites] by about 15-20% then that’s okay, the point is we have made an effort to minimalise access.
He said the government intends to make a list of “negative sites” that are meant to be blocked, and that these websites will be those that are pornographic, hateful, or violent. The list will be continually updated and ISP’s and warnets informed of any changes. detik
Previously Nuh had said that the new law was needed now because the government intends to massively increase the proportion of the population with internet access, particularly in villages.
Download and view UU ITE.
Internet Cafe Raids
In Bogor, West Java, policeman Subur Rahardjo says the police will routinely raid warnets, or public internet cafes, looking for people accessing porn web sites.
He says it will be part of a new campaign against social diseases such as prostitution, liquor drinking, and VCD porn films, and done in support of the the Pornography Law (UU Pornografi), and to make sure the situation was conducive for the coming gubernatorial election in West Java. republika
And in Bojonegoro, East Java, the police and the regency government intend to coordinate efforts to deal with internet cafes that provide folders of pornographic images on their computers. There are said to be 17 warnets in Bojonegoro, and so far one of these has been caught allowing the storing of porn. tempo
24 Comments on “Internet Blocking & Regulation”
-
Rambutan says:
Great, a new law that gives police the opportunity to extort money (this time from warnets, individuals, etc.). The government isn’t even able to repair roads in Jakarta; how are they going to block porn sites. Ridiculous.. And what about my basic right to enjoy pornography? I’m old enough and should be able to decide myself what to watch.
-
sri says:
Meanwhile Fitna goes viral, In 24 hours more than 20 download sources on torrent alone. I bet they like to block that but not a snowballs chance in hell.
On the other hand why block quotes from Koran.
-
ramster says:
I heard about that news too. Sucks doesn’t it? Now where can I get all the nudies around the net. This is what happening in our God-forsaken country, my suggestion is: leave now, and start looking for another country to live. Nothing is good anymore in Indonesia.
-
Pinch me please, our president still Suharto?
We don’t have freedom to choose what sites we want to visit, Oh dear… What’s wrong with this government *sigh*
-
Pena Budaya says:
I wonder how this regulation in Indonesia will working properly..
Publishing the banned website every week or every day or every month would waste so much time! I can imagine how many porn websites created in every hour!!
Silly.
-
So much for ‘reformasi’ and ‘demokrasi’ huh?
Indonesia is reforming into pakistan, no.. saudi arabia.. no… AFGHANISTAN!Pretty soon women walking down the streets alone or their beautiful voices would be ban of fear that it would be a turn on for men.
What else are they going to do? Forbid people to study overseas (to limit the exposure of porn, blasphemous materials etc on Indo students) or vacation in western countries?
This is worse than the times of Suharto, because our people have had a taste of the limitless information highway and democracy and now all those will once again be a luxury because of the suggested bans, while it should be the norm and be experienced by anyone and everyone.
-
Lairedion says:
So far for all these so-called “moderate Muslims” while in the meantime sharia is gaining ground in Indonesia
-
Yay! we’re on the way to become China!
-
Andre says:
I have read they want to spend 30 Trilliun (Rp. 30.000.000.000.000) to “ban” pornography (we all know you will never stop porn from entering Indonesia)… How many canals to prevent flooding or monorails could you build with that?
SBY, stupid i***, what kind of democrat are you?
Well good for you guys… you now have 29.9 Trilliun in the pocket for the next elections… And the web business is now controled by Telkom…
By the way, I’d like to make a porn site, how much do I have to pay not to be banned? Tarifs are already planned?
-
Murphy says:
What’s so good about porn that you must defend it? Oh, sorry, I forget. It gives you another platform for Islam-bashing. OK, fine. Now let’s get to the argument.
Porn was banned from all offices and schools internet anyway and the last time I checked, the CEOs of Procter & Gamble or Exxon Mobil are not muslims. The principal of Jakarta International School is not muslim either, but guess what? You can’t watch Japanese schoolgirl’s panties there either. Damn those Taliban-infested companies! They just blocked your “basic right to enjoy pornography”.
But they are not government, right? Fine. Singapore also banned Playboy, Penthouse and Bangbros site. And they ban them from the citizen-paid ISP. Damn those Muslim Singapore government!
Now the Indonesian government is rolling free internet access to all highschool in Indonesia (it’s good news, so by default you don’t get it in Indonesia Matters). The last thing you want to see is all these testosterone-poisoned boys using this free state facility to jerk-off to the 400 images of Chika gives blow job to his boyfriend (you never heard of Chika? Well, it’s too late now.)
Will the ban works? Hell, no way! But it gives some security to parents that their children will not get their dose of porn so easily. They must learn how to Google properly (to find that by-pass software) and learn the detail of Internet Protocol (at least now they start to use the word “proxy”).
If this ban makes the children start to use search engine, then let’s ban porn. I’m tired of highschool students coming to the warnet only to update their Friendster account but never heard the word “Google” or “Wikipedia” even once in their lifetime. If they continue living in their cocooon like that they will grow up being alarmist muslim-bashers, living in their own prejudice and fears.
-
mark says:
I want to enjoy porn from internet beacuse I am over 30 years old. I don’t want my children to have access to porn through the internet. I don’t think it is a matter of Muslim or Non Muslim. It is a matter of system. A system to filter internet user whether they are adult or not. Through what ? Single Digital ID system. Since Indonesia has not yet applied Single Digital ID, then there is no other way than to block the sites consisting porn.
-
Farah says:
No porn site.. but people will still could find a way to see to watch… i think its depend on the person that sit in front of comp and press the enter button. You like it, you’ll get it. No matter how hard they try to block it.
They still had Yahoo chat or MSN cam to cam cyber “fun” things. Whats the difference tho..
Hehehe…But yes i would be disagree if children underage access the porn site. Should be a better way tho…
-
jawa.apostate says:
I think the new law is just another useless crap by the parliament that are most-useful and most-respected-for-working-so-sincerely-hard-for-the-good-of-the-nation. Sharia was just a reason that simply works with the plan, and even now the Islamic Defender Front has already raid some small shops… I don’t know what’ll happen next.
I heard something about Muhrim Police: when they see you mingle with your loved one (a guy and a girl together just the two of them) these police CAN and will (most) probably use force when necessary to verify that you have THE RIGHT to be together (to make sure that he / she IS your spouse).
Will we all have to walk around daily wearing black table cloths with holes for just our eyes in this lovely country? And will indonesia be called “safe” and “prosperous” then? And every tourist MUST wear that when swimming in Kuta beach?
The idea was good, but the execution is lame.
Anything for this calls for 3E: education-engineering-enforcement. Indonesia HAD NOT started with education at all about sex, now they’re forcing to apply engineering (including making laws and other technical mumbo jumbo) plus (probably) enforcement to sex/porn?
And the smart guys in the government actually think that this will work? Come on.
-
shorty says:
making something illegal doesn’t stop it. laws are useless unless they have the support of the community at large, and can be enforced.
ri can only control isp’s based in indonesia……….myspace/facebook/1001+ file sharing programmes? realise that a lot of what is defined as ‘porn’ in ri wouldn’t raise an eyebrow elsewhere.
by all means try to draw a line at pedophillia, snuff…….but activity between consenting adults ? (provided they’ve signed a release.)
seems to me a little like the old political maxim of being seen to be doing something, rather than doing something….this confuses you? that’s the intention – they can always say we had a debate and passed a law…….
remember legislation is not truth, it is a compromise struck between conflicting parties, designed to enhance the re-election prospects of the legislator.
why ‘duckshove’ ? you’re the parent/teacher/boss/friend/whatever………you only need the law if you’ve failed in your resonsibilty.
-
tomaculum says:
Read this:
http://kompas.com/index.php/read/xml/2008/04/03/17333218/cegah.ngeseks.celana.pemijat.digembok
-
Tomaculum, that looks right up my alley. š
-
mj says:
Donāt you just hate being treated like a child? Condescending Big brother is just a step around the corner…Again…scary huh?
It’s just more of the same crazy double standard crap that sadly will never cease to exist within the infantile minds of those too weak to make any logical decision without demeaning the fabric of this society or pandering to the frenetic demands of some overzealous rabid righteous fellows who would probably incite a riot to smash a bar or two during Idul Fitri with little fear of recrimination, or far, far worse… Need I mention Bali…? The scary reality is we do have to fear the mass. We have seen what happens, so does the government. How long can that last?
Gosh Iād hate to think they could focus on something a little more cancerous and or degrading.
I know it gets a little exhausting sitting on your callused behinds all day, coming up with ways of abusing the gifts of the nation, or maintaining expenditures, quotas, so as to continue receiving money from various local and or international agencies. Why World Bank even tries to regain any of the ālostā money lent is beyond me, I gave up wondering a long time ago why that poor guy was still pushing that Kaki Lima down the road, or why people laugh when I mention free health benefits, education and a roof should be a given human right.
I know closing the strip bars or shutting down the immeasurable sales of porno DVDās down in Glodok, or stopping the street girls being exploited and slaved off along the main road to Kota or wherever… would just be too detrimental to the wallet, hell think of the unemployment issues.
I mean who cares if Indonesia had in the last year or so developed the ‘largest’ considered sex industry catering to all types in the southern hemisphere. Donāt even start me on the aids stats… As long as it doesn’t pinch the pockets of some corrupt official or some dark alley gangster type one expects to see on every corner of the street, it’s ok right? What a joke.
Why focus on changing any real substantial problems, I too certainly wouldnāt want to be seen to be actually doing anything that really matters, not to mention being effective.
Yep a bit harsh, and a bit cynical I know, maybe even a little naive… Fair enough…Donāt kick me out of the country just yet.
Thankfully we aren’t living in Iraq, or some dark country in Africa, Yeah I know there are many problems and difficult solutions and Iām no social programming expert and I suppose they assume itās a start, but like most here probably agree we probably need to educate and put some limits on the youngsters, I did say youngsters, true. Do your job parents, teach them responsibility. Nurture them, give them guidance, teach them confidence, allow them to grow up to have a strong mind that they can truly rely to make a correct decisions, even if its just one, without big mummies, or should I say the nannies hand guiding us, let us grow up to be adults, please?
peace.
-
wita says:
I used to live in US and they have a better…much…much better technology than Indonesia, but still they cannot ban pornsite from internet in every household in USA. I think what the goverment of Indonesia is trying to do right now was just a SLOGAN and they want to show to their people that they care and concern about pornograpy .
I think Indonesia need to focus on somethingelse, such as bad traffic in Jakarta, Flood ‘ and so on. -
harunletlet says:
Focus on what? Traffic? Flood? What have you done for indonesia? Don’t say something bad for our own country when you see they are doing something right.
-
mj says:
Don’t get me wrong Harunletlet I hear what your saying Indonesia is a wonderful country and the people are amongst the most beautiful I have ever come across. But if you look with a clear and objective mindset one would realize that what Wita is saying, was anything but anti patriotic, i’d say the comment was quiet the opposite. Wita was simply expressing a common concern that many locals and internationals realize to be a frustrating reality…. Why can’t the government ‘focus’ on something that can have real tangible results. Lets face it, the government is full of questionable activities no one can deny that…
A very important feature to remember Harunletlet, the government does not reflect Indonesia, I certainly would hope not… Do you really want to associate Indonesia with the reputation of it’s government ? Pray it does not.
You honestly can’t believe this government is truly representing and handling the ‘serious’ affairs of this nation in a responsible manner…
A few more things to consider.. Think about how much aid money is poured into Indonesia every year (millions and millions and millions of dollars!!)… Why is that ? It’s not like Indonesia doesn’t have some of the richest natural resources in the world, just a thought… Ever think about how much money Pertamina stole from oil theft a few years ago. Think about that fact. And think about the amount they stole, it would have covered every citizens of Indonesia with FULL health care, FREE education and YES accommodation for all Indonesians in need. And what happened to Pertamina.. they received a quiet little spank on the bottom.. They didn’t want to expose any pockets being filled, now did they?..
Ok la, we all know this world is imperfect.. We could bitch all day. On a personal level, let’s just try and ‘focus’ on making each day a better one for you, me and the dude next door.
adios
-
arifin says:
my opinion about economic indonesia still street in place and why? because they are each selfwalking,with that economic indonesia less development,you know.And finally world economic indonesia need renewal in order to all people indonesia join in feeling,you know.
Comment on “Internet Blocking & Regulation”.
Copyright Indonesia Matters 2006-2023
Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | Contact
Dear courageous Patung,
Will your site be blocked? I hope not. We/you are not involved in anything like that right? Well then Keep it up, you are doing wonderful for exposing the truth. Thank you.