Ministry Cracking Down on Porn Sites
A little over a year ago, May 18th, 2007, I remarked on an article in the Kuwait Times called MOC Bans Porno Film Sites. I had no idea that even over a year later, that blog entry would continue getting countless hits.
In this morning’s Kuwait Times, it’s like they say – deja vu all over again.
KUWAIT: Communications Minister Abdulhahman Al-Ghunaim has ordered the establishment of a committee to improve Internet services by finding ways to stop the spread of pornographic websites, which contradict local cultural and religious values.
The committee will reportedly be headed by Engineeer Ali Al-Zibin, the ministry’s Assistant Undersecretary of Information Technology, and will include representatives from the Interior, Awqaf, and Information Ministries, as well as Kuwait University.
A Communications Ministry official said that the committee will coordinate with and supervise the country’s Internet service providers in order to formulate a strategy to limit this phenomenon, by strengthening their supervisory role in this field.
It will also work continually updating the country’s systems to ensure that they are on a par with the latest technological developments to put an end to the spread of pornographic sites, in addition to establishing a map for joint coordination between all ministries.
You can live in a country a long time and barely scratch the surface. I honestly try to figure out what is going on, and even so, I get surprised often. I feel so encouraged when I see people tackling a problem, but then, so often, it turns out to be just meeting, just talking – no fixing.
As I have said before – I hate pornography. It isn’t part of my country’s values, either. It is certainly counter to my values. And yet, when I think of spending a country’s resources on trying to fight pornography, which we have had with us since probably the earliest times, I just feel tired. I don’t think you can win a fight against pornography. I think, to eliminate pornography, prostitution, alcohol and drug abuse – you have to change the way people think. Haven’t you noticed? You restrict something, it only makes it more attractive. Look at the countries that brutalize people arrested for possession of pornography – Saudi Arabia and Iran – have they been successful in eliminating access to pornography – on the net, or elsewhere? Where there is a demand, there will be suppliers, or that is how it seems to me. How do we eliminate the demand?
Who accesses and downloads porn the most, do you think? My bet would be on the 15 – 35 year old male, the most technologically savvy group in any population. How long do you think it will take them to break through any barriers you can place? And how many nanoseconds before they spread the “fix” all over the internet?
There is another article today, one on the air conditioning breakdown at Ibn Sina hospital, patients keeling over from the heat and humidity and then sewer-dwelling insects swarming into the children’s ward. How disgusting is that?
Attack the problems you can solve. Put people first. Fix the infrastructure – the roads, the hospitals, government services, licensing, visas. Make Kuwait state-of-the-art in communication accessibility. Kuwait is RICH, Kuwait can do anything. I hate pornography, but I don’t think any nation has the capacity to stop it.
14 Comments »
Leave a reply to Mrm Cancel reply
Recent Comments
Catherine on Donna Leon Crossing Cultu… intlxpatr on Ignoring the Law thani on Ignoring the Law Anon. on British Soldier Kidnapped, Esc… Reeva Mills on Cahors to Bordeaux, Preparing… Wikipedia Donate Button
Amazina
Early Voting in Florida
Here There and Everywhere 
[Sarcasm]
Stop the porn !
Kids love playing with bugs anyway …..
[/sarcasm]
(thanks for the mention on fonzation. I think DR did a fantastic job)
“Attack the problems you can solve. Put people first. Fix the infrastructure – the roads, the hospitals, government services, licensing, visas. Make Kuwait state-of-the-art in communication accessibility. Kuwait is RICH, Kuwait can do anything.”
applaudable remark i must say.
“I feel so encouraged when I see people tackling a problem, but then, so often, it turns out to be just meeting, just talking – no fixing.”
gasp! do i sense a wee bit of mrmtastic cynicism there?! i likef.
Which is more harmful, watching pepople having sex or watching people kill each other?
How about wathing a french kiss, or watching a beating?
Or seeing a bare breast? Or seeing an animal being slaughtered?
Perhaps people should revise their values?
May 18 grabbed my attention… Its my birthday 😉
I agree… there are bigger problems to look after!
KTDP – It’s not like Kuwait is the only country in the world with a broken health care system. There ARE good health professionals, and DR made her case. There are also some terrible things that happen that shouldn’t. Ooops! Off topic! I’m must really cynical about just how porn can be stopped?
Yep, Mrm, you’ve gotten to me. Or maybe this morning reading that article, and a couple others that were like “didn’t we just hear that last year? or the year before?” I got kind of an idea that maybe that’s the way thing are done – or not – here. Momentary cynicism; it will pass. 😉
Anonymous Coward – I have a problem here – you seem to be supporting my point, but see, I think a lot of pornography is really really harmful. I think pornography is as harmful as violence, and often, they are closely intertwined. The point is – is it even possible to stop it?
Oh Ansam, you crack me up. 🙂
So you think seeing a nude person is as harmful as seeing a dead person for example? Which would mess up a child’s mind more, nudity or murder?
We keep talking about banning pornography because it is against our high values and traditions. But why no one is talking about even limiting the access of violence to kids? Is violence one of our high moral standards or what?
To understand our twisted “morals” look at TV series that Kuwait produces…
– A husband beating his wife, it’s okay.
– A teenager shouting at his parents, it’s okay.
– A person consuming narcotics, it’s also okay.
– A person stealing from another, also okay.
But…
– A man kissing a woman… NO NO NO, that’s against our high morals!!
I invite you and everybody to see the useful website “Google Trends”, which tracks word searches. Look at the entry for “Sex”, and see how many of the top 10 countries are those who claim “High values and traditions”.
http://www.google.com/trends?q=sex
OK, OK, you are making a point, and you are arguing with the wrong person. I don’t think holding hands in pornographic. I don’t think kissing is pornographic. I don’t think nudity is necessarily pornographic.
I detest violence. It’s not an either or. I think we can limit violence – we can make laws and enforce them, we can educate children to have more tools in their repetoire so that they don’t resort to violence when their limited communication skills fail. We don’t even know how to define pornography so that everyone will agree.
I think it is as hard to stop pornography as it is to stop the spread of ideas, and especially so now that the world is so connected by internet, cable, magazines, travel . . . it would take a Taliban-like return to the stone age to put that genie back in the bottle.
Interesting subject. I think the one and only way to prevent adult/graphic sites is to monitor online traffic, like ISPs observing all IPs. However, even that solution is illegal. It’s illegal for them to check the sites their customers visit because that would trash their privacy policy.
One note to anonymous coward: I think both are equally devastating.
😥 bye bye porn
there is a big difference between showing afection, nudity and pornography.. but this isnt what i wanted to comment on.. i just hope the commitee doesnt start over-banning internet sites, because as you all said what is accepted with some might not be accepted by others.
i remeber searching for colon cancer on the net and more than one site was blocked by the service provider !! and this happened before the comittee ! 🙂 i hope i dont google STD’s and get blocked now !
I was only messin’
Our healthcare system is actually pretty good (all things considered) and I really can’t see a reason why people try and stop porn; people will get it anyway and it is harmless (generally speaking)
Mac – exactly! And even if we get Big Brother watching us, there will be innovative youngsters who will find a way around it in a heartbeat.
it – I don’t think so!
LLOOLL, AbdulAziz – as you so often do, you came in with the right info at the right time. I guess I would defind pornography as something you wouldn’t want to show your mom! and yes, one time I went looking for tablecloths, and a site was banned! But colon cancer – LLOOLLL. It is more than just annoying, isn’t it, it can be downright counter-productive, anti-modern, when useful sites are blocked by someone who doesn’t understand the usefulness.
KTDP – Yep!
but no, not harmless. Now more than ever, airbrushed / enhanced bodies make females feel badly about their bodies. Porn gives guys the idea they are missing out on really hot sex, and that every one but them is getting some. It makes fantasies more important than reality. Women can’t live up to the expectations.
Yes, I’m sure they will find away around but not until MOC & MOI enforce new laws criminalizing the access of porn. Yet again it’s highly doubted because it will conflict with privacy issues.
The problem they have here is that there is no proper outlet for people in this country. People always overdo what they think they are missing. So, unfortunately, the sex they think the rest of the world is having resembles the porn websites they view. It really is a shame all the way around. I have to agree with coward about seeing affection over violence, but like you said, its not an either-or. I would like, just once, to be able to go to a beach here that I didn’t spend an outrageous amount of money to use so that I could wear a swimsuit and play in the sand with my daughter without people gawking. I am not young, and by no means consider myself an object of desire by any man except my husband, and so if they saw a little more skin, maybe I wouldn’t feel like a centerfold every time I wear something above my ankles!