THE Government has recently raised concerns over the problem of easy access to pornography over the Internet. In the past, some quarters have suggested that the Internet should be censored for such content. The Malaysian Crime Prevention Foundation said early last year that if cybersmut continued to be circulated, particularly indecent images of children, it might be time for the Government “to take a second look and see whether it could do something about it.” However, opponents of censorship argue that “no censorship” does not mean people are free to indulge in pornography with impunity and disregard to existing laws. Lending credence to this argument was what Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said last month. He called on the private sector, schools and cybercafé operators to take it upon themselves to prevent the access of pornographic websites on their premises. Internet service provider, TIME dotCom Bhd, the operator of TIMENet (www.time.net.my), acknowledges that while there are evil influences on the Internet, just like in the real world, “what is right and wrong has nothing to do with technology per se.” The company believes that censorship is not the way to address the problem of negative content on the Internet. Full article The Star