Indonesia shuts down 1 million porn Web sites
With the beginning of Ramadan, the Indonesian government closes pornographic Web sites and hints that it may continue the closure past the country's holy month.
Gearing up for Islamic holy month, the Indonesian government announced it has shuttered more than 1 million pornographic Web sites, according to the Times of India. And it hasn't stopped there -- the government said it has plans to crack down on millions more.
"We will block more porn sites during Ramadan," Indonesia's communications and information minister Tifatul Sembiring told the Times of India. Then, hinting at the possibility of keeping the sites shut down indefinitely, he said, "though that doesn't mean that we will allow such sites to operate during the rest of the year."
Ramadan begins in Indonesia today and lasts for one month. This country has one of the world's most populous Islamic populations and is known for being intolerant of pornography.
Last year, BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion came under fire from the Indonesian government. Threatening to block off all mobile Web browsing, the government finagled RIM to shut off all porn accessed through its smartphones. The company complied by developing a filter for all BlackBerry users residing in Indonesia.
Minister Sembiring told the Times of India that roughly 2 billion porn Web sites exist and that all of the sites the government has now closed were running from other countries.