Malaysian porn censorship could block health data
Publish date: 06 July 2005
Issue Number: 1088
Diary: Legalbrief eLaw
Category: Internet
The Malaysian Governments attempts to curb Internet porn could also restrict access to important health information, according to the Centre for Independent Journalism, which noted that the moves could block legitimate searches for information on safe sex and condom use.
The government has blocked government computers from accessing porn and instituted a 24-hour watch on their unauthorised use by civil servants, while school computers and Internet cafes are to have filters installed. Sonia Randhawa, director of the centre, said that research by the Kaiser Family Foundation, an independent healthcare think tank, found that pornography filters could block up to 27% of websites with the word condom, reports The Age. The Centre for Independent Journalism also characterised the government\'s orders to introduce anti-porn filters as the first formal attempts at Internet censorship in the country. Full report in The Age
