Bangladesh closes down 560 porn sites

Bangladesh has started its campaign against objectionable internet content by closing down 560 pornography sites.

“Internet service providers, gateway and mobile service providers were given the list of these websites,” said Sarwar Alam, secretary of Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC), on Wednesday.

“Our instruction has now come into effect,” he told bdnews24.com.   

He, however, did not disclose the list.

The telecoms division formed a committee on Nov 28 to stop more of these contents from emerging on the internet.

The committee has been tasked with making a complete list of porn and other objectionable websites and providing a three-tier technical proposal for shutting them down.

“Internet service providers will randomly shut down pages generated from inside the country,” Telecoms State Minister Tarana Halim had said.

“All providers must close them down because those who don’t will get all the traffic.”

She admitted that closing access to porn in Bangladesh altogether will be a challenge.

“It will be a huge task even if we succeed at 70 to 80 percent.”

Bangladesh has more than 60 million internet users and the majority of these users access internet on their mobile phones, according to the BTRC.  

There is no official data on how many visit porn sites but a survey conducted by NGO Manusher Jonno Foundation said 77 percent of school goers in Dhaka visit port sites on a regular basis.