Egypt court orders ban of porn websites to protect 'society, values'

Cairo, Mar 31 (ANI): An Egyptian court has ordered the government to ban pornographic websites to protect society and its values.

The ruling came from a lower court that made a similar ruling three years ago. But it was not enforced, because at the time, officials argued that filtering of systems was not very effective.

The pornographic website issue recently underlined the Islamist domination of parliament, when an ultraconservative lawmaker presented a query asking the government to ban pornographic websites because they endangered the morality of the country's youth.

Meanwhile, human rights activists have criticised the latest ruling and warned that it was a violation of freedom of information in an already conservative society, The Daily Mail reports.

According to the paper, Internet specialists argued that trying to ban pornography with a court ruling or legislation is ineffective.

The use of parental controls is considered a more common way to curb access of minors to offensive content, they said.

"It is very hard to implement and is... a waste of resources," the paper quoted lawyer Soha Abdel-Attie of the Egyptian Initiative for Human Rights, as saying.

Abdel-Attie also said it was not clear if the new court order builds on the previous case, or was a new ban. (ANI)

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