Porn ban in final stage

28 July 2010 07:33 am

By Jamila Najmuddin

The Police Women and Children’s Bureau held discussions with the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRC), senior officials from the IT faculty of the Colombo University and the Magistrate of the Bambalapitiya Juvenile Court today in a bid to ban pornography on mobile phones after President Mahinda Rajapakse sought for a report against child abuse, sources said.

President Rajapakse on Monday publicly announced that he had sought a report from the police against child abuse and also warned that all forms of abuse against children will be severely dealt with.

The President added that he had also brought to the notice of the Cabinet several complaints he had personally received and added that all efforts would be made to prevent acts of child abuse in the country.

The police are seeking a court order to ban pornography on mobile phones and have sought the support of the TRC and IT seniors after they noted an increase in the number of abuse and rape cases due to pornographic websites being freely accessible on mobile phones.

Within the past few months, the police say they have noted an increase in reports of minors with access to porn material on their hand sets.

Mobile phone operators had last month readily agreed to assist the police in cracking down on pornographic material on cellular hand sets. 

Together with the mobile operators, the police aim at eradicating pornographic material on mobile phones. (Daily Mirror online)