Advertisement

Icelandic government faces backlash over plan to ban pornography

A radical move being mulled by Iceland’s government is set to have widespread impact on how governments across Europe and North America regulate online content.

Iceland is exploring the possibility of banning pornography online and investigating what measures would need to be taken in order to enforce such a ban. There has been a loose ban on printed pornography in the country for decades now, but the plan to ban online porn would be a major move for Iceland.

"When a 12-year-old types 'porn' into Google, he or she is not going to find photos of naked women out on a country field, but very hardcore and brutal violence," said Halla Gunnarsdottir, political adviser to the interior minister in an Associated Press story.

[ Related: Bill C-30 killed by Conservatives but Internet privacy may still be at risk ]

While the move to protect children from violent images is largely supported in the country, the implementation of the ban is what has some people questioning it. According to AP, Iceland is considering several different measures for restricting access, including making it illegal to pay for pornography with an Icelandic credit card, or implementing a national filter or banned websites list.

"At the moment, we are looking at the best technical ways to achieve this," Gunnarsdottir told CNN. "But surely if we can send a man to the moon, we must be able to tackle porn on the Internet."

The controversial move to limit Internet freedoms isn’t sitting well with activists, however. Much like the outcry against Canada’s Public Safety Minister Vic Toews when he sought to give sweeping powers to police in efforts to curb child pornography, activists fear that the limiting of access will impede on Icelanders’ rights to free speech and freedom online.

"This kind of thing does not work," said Smari McCarthy of the International Modern Media Institute to AP. "It is technically impossible to do in a way that has the intended effect. And it has negative side effects – everything from slowing down the Internet to blocking content that is not meant to be blocked to just generally opening up a whole can of worms regarding human rights issues, access to information and freedom of expression."

[ More Right Click: Three reasons why fibre Internet connections matter to you ]

And while Iceland may be a small country of only 320,000 residents, legislating a widespread online ban on pornography could have far-reaching implications. Anti-pornography campaigner Dr. Gail Dines predicts that if Iceland were to implement the ban, Britain would soon follow suit.

"I have been talking to charities in the UK and the NSPCC [National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children] and professionals and they are seeing what is happening, the rise in child abuse, the violence," Dines told The Guardian. "There are real moves afoot to follow Iceland. We live in a very closed-down society when it comes to talking about sex so a lot of people have their heads in the sand but not those working on the ground. You cannot leave it to parents. Online porn is shaping the sexual lives of our young people."

Need to know what’s hot in tech? Follow @yrightclick on Twitter!