BANGLADESH

‘ 22,000 porn, 6,000 gambling sites blocked in Bangladesh’

The government has permanently blocked 22,000 porn sites and 6,000 gambling sites, said Posts and Telecommunications Minister Mustafa Jabbar, adding that artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things (IoT) will shape the future.

Terming internet connectivity as mandatory for the digital age, Jabbar said that the government has taken up a project to bring the entire country under high speed internet.

He was addressing a policy dialogue on safe use of technology in establishing peace and extending democracy, arranged by Bangladesh Enterprise Institute at a Dhaka hotel on Saturday.

“The government has permanently blocked a total of 22,000 porn sites and 6,000 gambling sites. We’ve also achieved great success in removing harmful content from the virtual world through improving our ties with social media giants like Facebook and others. But such progress won’t be of any use if the consumers of digital technologies don’t practice restraint, which can only be done through digital literacy,” said Jabbar.

“To face the challenges posed by digital technology, first we need to eliminate the digital divide. Everyone has to be digitally competent to enjoy the benefits of the upcoming technology-based world. If you keep your child away from the digital spheres, he/she will lag behind,” said Jabbar.

As of February 2019, Bangladeshi authorities had already blocked almost 20,000 websites as part of an anti-pornography “war”.

The crackdown was launched after the High Court in November 2018 asked the government to block pornography websites and publication of obscene materials in electronic forms for six months.

Earlier, in November 2016 the High Court directed the government to take initiative to block pornography websites and Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Communication (BTRC) had blocked about five hundred such sites at that time.

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