Internet Censorship in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka will amend its current media law in order to bring in all news websites and electronic media into its censorship net, the government said, a week after it raided and temporarily closed down two anti-government websites.

The amendments to the Press Council Law enacted in 1973 will allow the government to order websites and electronic media to follow media codes in addition to print media.

Media Minister Keheliya Rambukwella told Reuters:

We will bring amendments to the Press Council Law to include the electronic and web media to ensure accountability.

Manik de Silva, a director of Sri Lanka's Press Complaint Commission and a member of the country's Editor's Guild said:

This is obviously to control the media. Any strengthening of media laws will be used to further the interest of political parties in power rather than the national interest.

A Sri Lankan magistrate has ordered police to publish photographs of 83 local pornography actors in a bid to identify and arrest them for violating obscenity laws, officials said.

Police told Colombo Fort magistrate Lanka Jayaratne that the men and women featured on 180 Sri Lankan pornographic websites that have been blocked by telecommunications regulators.

We now have a court order to publish the photographs in the national press and seek public assistance to identify and arrest them, a police officer said, declining to be named.

He said the actors faced up to six months jail or a fine of 10,000 rupees (90 dollars), or both, if convicted.

Update: Request Refused

12th November 2010.  Based on article from  google.com

Newspaper editors in Sri Lanka refused to publish pictures of men and women who are wanted by police for appearing on porn websites in the country.

Under a crackdown on pornography on the Indian Ocean island, police are trying to trace local men and women pictured in compromising poses and had asked newspapers to reproduce mugshots of 83 of them.

We were given the photos with a request to publish them, but we decided not to, said Siri Ranasinghe, chief editor of the mass circulating Sinhalese daily, the Lankadeepa: It is a question of privacy. We don't know who these people are and under what circumstances the police got these pictures. Technology can be used to manipulate pictures, so we decided to leave them out.

All national dailies refused to print the photographs except for the Lakbima Sinhalese newspaper, which published the mugshots at the bottom of page two, without any reference to the allegations against them.

Update: Poor Response

24th November 2010.  Based on article from  sundaytimes.lk

The Police will now release to the police stations the pictures of the locals who acted in these films to trace them. This is in contrast to the previous plan to give maximum publicity, through the media, to the pictures of the locals and get help to identify them.

However, only one newspaper had published the pictures. Police said they had obtained a court order to publish the pictures, but were unable to confirm whether the pictures were doctored or not.

Police had been able to track down only three persons from some 83 pictures which had been released to the media. The three persons were released on bail after being produced in court.

Update: 7 Police Victims Arrested

3rd December 2010.  See  article from  bbc.co.uk

Sri Lankan police have arrested and bailed seven people accused of appearing in pornographic films. Police said the seven had to make statements and pay a surety before being released.

The suspects face up to six months in jail or a fine of 10,000 rupees ($89.75), or both, if convicted. The suspects were allegedly identified by photos obtained by the police from the now banned local porn web sites.

The Sri Lankan media has reported that some of the pictures released by police were in fact from private videos released by estranged lovers, while some appeared to have been secretly shot with hidden cameras.

Sri Lanka's Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (TRC) has announced plans to install ISP-level software that will block pornographic websites, according to local news reports. The software will reportedly be ready within six weeks.

Currently, we are having discussions with the Information and Communication Technology Department of the University of Colombo for technical assistance to launch the software, TRC Chairman Anusha Palpita said.

Palpita added that discussions are currently being held with all internet service providers in the country regarding the implementation of the software.

A Sri Lankan court has ordered a dozen websites to be blocked for allegedly containing pornographic material involving local women.

The Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRC) was asked to block access to the 12 websites, including redtube.com, an adult-content sharing portal, the Lankadeepa newspaper said.

There was no immediate comment from the TRC, which a year ago announced it was filtering websites showing obscene, pornographic and other sexually explicit material.

Colombo Chief Magistrate Nishantha Hapuarachchi said the censorship order was issued following a police complaint that some videos contained Sri Lankan women and children and that the free access to the sites corrupted society.

The websites' owners have 14 days to respond and if they do not, the TRC has been asked to continue blocking those sites, the magistrate was quoted as saying.

Sri Lanka already maintains an unofficial ban on websites of dissidents by getting local Internet Service Providers to block access to those portals.

Update: Wider Ban on Porn

31st July 2009. From humanevents.com

The Government is to propose tough new laws to curb adult movies, advertisements, publications containing obscene materials appearing in various forms in Sri Lanka.

Cultural Affairs and National Heritage Minister Mahinda Yapa Abeywardene at a press briefing in Sigiriya yesterday said that a decision had been taken after considering the harmful impact of such materials to society at large and its contribution towards the erosion of the social values in Sri Lanka.

In this regard, wider power would be relegated to the existing Censor Board to enact these proposed measures. Mobile service providers would also be advised to refrain from airing such materials.

The Minister also noted that the proposals in this regard would be submitted to the Cabinet shortly.

Update: Local Porn

12th August 2009. From business.avn.com

Sri Lanka's Criminal Investigation Department is investigating porn content created within the country, according to the Colombo Chief Magistrate.

The CID claims links between porn websites and locally produced material, reports the area's regional Daily Mirror.

Update: Demarcation Dispute

17th August 2009. From dailymirror.lk

Cabinet Spokesman and Media Minister Anura Priyadharshana Yapa yesterday said he was disappointed and displeased at the Cabinet Cultural Affairs Minister Piyasiri Wijenayaka had trespassed the purview of his cabinet portfolio in undertaking to control the telecast of films, Tele Dramas and Commercials.

He may be unaware of what he is doing. But it is unethical and against the collective responsibility of Ministers when he said he was to introduce legislation to control 'Adults Only' telecasts, Minister Anura Priyadharshana said.