Egypt state prosecutor issues order to ban Internet pornography

Shawn Knight

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Staff member

Egypt state prosecutor Abdel Meguid Mahmud has ordered a ban on Internet pornography according to an official statement from his office. The attempt isn’t the first of its kind though as a previous court order was never put into effect, nor was a similar proposal in the Egyptian Parliament earlier this year.

The order was allegedly handed down following a protest yesterday by conservative Muslims called Salafis. This group has launched a campaign known as “Pure Net” with the intent of blocking access to pornographic websites, according to an official at the prosecutor’s office that asked to remain anonymous.

The online version of the Al-Ahram newspaper said the order was specifically directed at information, interior and telecommunications ministries that would potentially have the power to block pornographic images and videos on the web.

In 2009, a Cairo court sided with an Islamist lawyer with regards to pornographic websites. The lawyer said such content was destructive to Egypt and ruined moral values. The court noted that freedoms of expression and public rights should be restricted by maintaining fundamentals of religion, morality and patriotism.

It remains to be seen if new Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi will make any sort of effort to enforce this order. USA Today says the previous attempts all failed due to the high cost associated with enforcing such a ban. There’s no doubt it would take a large sum of money to fund a project to block the thousands of websites and pages deemed inappropriate on the Internet.

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Some countries just tend to keep going backwards, backwards and backward. Soon enough, we will be seeing our Cavemen ancestors.
 
This is really a shame , it is a personal freedom , no body has the right to impose what he thinks on the others.
 
Things usually get more popular when people try to restrict it. Or maybe they are just trying to increase DVD sales lol.
 
You're crazy if you think the ability to view porno is a freedom. There are millions of people who are enslaved to this so called 'freedom' and it has and continues to destroy lives and families.
 
You're crazy if you think the ability to view porno is a freedom. There are millions of people who are enslaved to this so called 'freedom' and it has and continues to destroy lives and families.
So I suppose we should also ban manufacturing because there are millions of people who are enslaved to working in factories and it has and continues to destroy lives and families. Nice logic.
 
You're crazy if you think the ability to view porno is a freedom. There are millions of people who are enslaved to this so called 'freedom' and it has and continues to destroy lives and families.
I never thought I would say this, the only well thought out comment is from a guest. However in everyones defense that is fighting for free Internet, there are ways to clean up the Internet without completely banning such content. Such content should not be so easily accessible by under age viewers.
 
Have fun with that. You either will have another uprising or no people to govern -_-
 
Some countries just tend to keep going backwards, backwards and backward. Soon enough, we will be seeing our Cavemen ancestors.

So.. to move forward and improve ourselves, to have flying jets around our homes, we have to watch porn. Hmmmm, I will keep that in my mind!
 
Some countries just tend to keep going backwards, backwards and backward. Soon enough, we will be seeing our Cavemen ancestors.


Yeah but if you notice it's always the same countries I say large enterprise countries like US, Denmark, UK, Sweden etc just just put their foot down now and cut off access to most of the east!
 
You're crazy if you think the ability to view porno is a freedom. There are millions of people who are enslaved to this so called 'freedom' and it has and continues to destroy lives and families.
So I suppose we should also ban manufacturing because there are millions of people who are enslaved to working in factories and it has and continues to destroy lives and families. Nice logic.

RH00D - Are you an *****? Yes, we should ban manufacturers who enslave workers. I don't know what you were getting at with your statement? He never said ban the entire internet. Even with that "free" porn you're watching, producers make millions. They directly and indirectly force girls to appear in these videos.

....and yes, for the record, if a manufacturer is enslaving workers, we should shut it down.
 
You're crazy if you think the ability to view porno is a freedom. There are millions of people who are enslaved to this so called 'freedom' and it has and continues to destroy lives and families.
it is better for the governments in this countries to fight against corruption and poverty first , then look for porn banning.
 
I am from Egypt, Salafis are EXTREME Islamist, I am a moderate Muslim, like most of Egypt. Sadly, they have louder voice. Anyways, I am with them blocking sexual content(Not proxies, I use it for more just porn), but the way they are doing it destructive, we have degraded morals(which is solved by better education not just blocking everything but saying what's wrong and why!) Also, IF THEY EFFIN MONEY to spend it on censoring, better give it to the poor, and solve more problems we have. They are just handling everything wrong. And to all people out there, you haven't seen true revolution. Everyone is scared to lose everything, that's why it didn't succeed, we will be truly free when we lose everything!
 

I am from Egypt, Salafis are EXTREME Islamist, I am a moderate Muslim, like most of Egypt. Sadly, they have louder voice. Anyways, I am with them blocking sexual content(Not proxies, I use it for more just porn), but the way they are doing it destructive, we have degraded morals(which is solved by better education not just blocking everything but saying what's wrong and why!) Also, IF THEY EFFIN MONEY to spend it on censoring, better give it to the poor, and solve more problems we have. They are just handling everything wrong. And to all people out there, you haven't seen true revolution. Everyone is scared to lose everything, that's why it didn't succeed, we will be truly free when we lose everything!

Hi, I'm an Egyptian too, ( I'm a Salafist also ;) which means : a Muslim who adheres to all doctrines of his religion, and not an EXTREME or BRUTAL MONSTER which sadly is the image that media spreads :( and one of the major doctrines is to learn, study, and develop in all world sciences and technologies, so please don't be afraid and get rid of the media's image and lie about Salafists :) and I don't know what you mean with " moderate Muslim !! :( "
Back to the topic, may be complete blockage of porn website is technically impossible, BUT not all visitors of these sites are COMPUTER GEEKS! So, say we have 100.000 visitors, when we block these sites only 20.000 will get to it, BIG ADVANTAGE!.
Finally I'm sorry about my bad English, and GOOD LUCK :))))
 
> to move forward and improve ourselves,
> to have flying jets around our homes,
> we have to watch porn

That's the dumbest thing I've ever read on the internet.
 
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