An Egyptian MP asks for pornographic websites to be closed ... and tweets mocking: Block it like news

Once again, Egypt is witnessing the return of calls for blocking pornographic websites. Over the past two days, the Committee for Suggestions and Complaints in the House of Representatives witnessed several proposals being discussed, among them was a "proposal with a desire" submitted by MP Mahmoud Abu al-Khair from the Nour Party, in which he called for the closure of pornographic sites and electronic programs. Which calls for the spread of immorality and indecent acts on social media in Egypt.

But the request faced - like its predecessors in 2013 and 2017 - the same responses from the authorities represented by the National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, where the representative of the agency said in his speech to the Parliamentary Committee that the issue of pornographic sites is a global issue, and the device has nothing to do with blocking them, pointing out that "there are some issues." A legal ruling governing the blocking process, which is that the blocking decision is made according to a court ruling.

He continued: "These sites are in the millions and it is difficult to close them, and even if they are closed, another million sites will appear after that." He stressed that the device is not concerned at all with tracking pornographic sites, but in the event of a court ruling, the company that controls the Internet is informed to block the sites, stressing the need to The website address shall be clear and specific, in order to ensure the implementation of the ruling by the Internet companies, not the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority.

He added that the role of the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority is to provide Internet services to citizens, and for the service to be available to the consumer well, indicating that the agency is making awareness of the danger of some safety-related matters, such as avoiding exposure to blackmail.

The representative of the agency added: "Confronting pornographic sites falls on the whole community, because it is related to religious sentiments. We call on everyone to take risks, and the family must assume its educational and religious role."

Frequent demands and responses

Although this response is outdated and hostile in the face of repeated requests to block pornographic sites, MP Abu Al-Khair - the submitter of the briefing request - objected to the lack of a mechanism at the Communications Regulatory Authority to block these sites, saying: "Should we leave things without controls?", Asking: "How? A number of Arab countries were able to block these websites. "

The occasion for this renewed request this time was Egypt's expansion in providing distance education services due to the Corona pandemic, as the deputy explained that “after implementing the distance education system, children at the age of 6 years are dealing with the Internet, and we cannot sit next to them all day long. To guard them, "pointing out that the matter is not related to pornographic sites only, but there are applications for violent games that must be blocked, because they gain children’s aggressive behavior.

This is not the first time that such a matter has been discussed, and perhaps the paradox accompanying the renewed issue of the blocking issue and the government's reaction: that there are hundreds of news and political sites blocked in the country, which prompted social media users to express their astonishment at the government's ability to block news sites. And political annoying her without a court ruling, while waiting for court rulings in a case disturbing society.

The government refuses to block porn sites and blocks political ones

- Salah Bediwi (@Salah_Bediwy) February 14, 2021

This issue was also raised in the Brotherhood’s Parliament 😀 dazzling, I

swear to God https://t.co/hkzMVoqdaM

- Ali (@MHMDALIMOUSSA) February 13, 2021

Banning porn sites was also the subject of the parliament that had passed, and in this case a court ruling on this matter, and every time the same issue occurred, and I did not know what was the goal?

- Ali (@MHMDALIMOUSSA) February 13, 2021

God, God,

the House of Representatives is presenting a bill to close pornographic sites, and

God our voice is heard, O group, who is with me 🙋 # I am Against Porn Pages

- 🇪🇬❤🇪🇬Nany Shehab🇸🇦❤🇸🇦 (@ShehabNany) February 13, 2021

After the pornographic sites are blocked, the Al-Jazeera station appears, with the support of some organizations affiliated with the United Nations, crying out that Arab Egypt opposes the freedom of opinion.

Abdullah Al-Mushaiqeh (@Nejd) February 14, 2021

Blocking opposition websites is normal, and it happened ... why don’t you want to turn off porn?

- ooosama (@ ooosama16) February 15, 2021

You know that tik tok is more dangerous for our youth than porn sites, and it is better to block the two together and with them in Baji to make young people use their time better

- Alaa Mârgán (@AbnMargan) February 14, 2021

It is reported that in August 2013, the Administrative Court rejected the lawsuit filed by a lawyer to close and block pornographic websites on the Internet.

The demands were repeated the following year without success, and then came in 2017, when MPs in the previous parliament announced that the law issued regarding cybercrime also applies to pornographic sites, and stipulates penalties against those who broadcast them from inside Egypt, noting that these sites spread immorality and corrupt generations. From young people.

The legislator regulated the performance of telecommunications services to citizens according to Law No. 10 of 2003, which established the National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority and assigned it to supervise and control its services.

The Administrative Judiciary Court headed by Counselor Yahya Dakroury said - in a previous ruling it issued - that the consumer or the user of telecommunications services has the right to provide him with the service in a manner that preserves personal dignity, and in a manner that guarantees respect for religious values, customs and traditions, in accordance with Article (2) of the Consumer Protection Law. Promulgated by Law No. 97 of 2006, affirming that the authority of the National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority to ensure the provision of telecommunications services to the public - as the competent administrative authority - requires that it bear two inseparable obligations.

The first two obligations, according to the provisions of the ruling, are: to guarantee legitimate communication rights and not to create obstacles or restrictions that limit the rights and freedoms of citizens in contradiction to the provisions of the constitution and the law, and the second of them is to protect the rights of users of means of communication, especially the international information network service (the Internet), from using the network to display Providing pornographic and sexual content and materials that violate the law, public order and public morals, which cannot be considered a form of practicing personal freedom or freedom of opinion, because making them available and enabling access to them are inconsistent with the provisions of the law and violate public order and morals, and they violate the divine religions that forbid immorality, It is also compatible with the ethics and inherent values ​​of society, and includes a waste of human dignity and the sanctity of his body.

The court stated that the duty of the National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (NTRA) is to intervene with its authority - in accordance with the law - to protect citizens by preventing the availability of these sites in Egypt, and to refrain from interfering with the telecommunications companies that manage telecommunications networks and provide their services with a license from it, by obliging them to take the necessary technical measures to block sites Pornography of citizens, which includes an "administrative decision that violates the provisions of the law and must be repealed."

It is interesting that the broadcaster Tamer Amin, one of the media professionals close to the authority, said on his program broadcast on one of the satellite channels in 2015 that the government is deliberately leaving pornographic sites to distract young people in crisis without the ability to get married and its costs.

The broadcaster criticized leaving pornographic sites open, noting that the government presented unconvincing arguments to refrain from closing them, the first of which is that the device that is used to close them has a high cost, and the second is that the closure may not be beneficial given the presence of certain codes that can be used to access the sites even after closing them.