COLOMBO, Sri Lanka—Sri Lanka’s Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (TRC) has announced plans to install ISP-level software that will filter out 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.
The software would be user-friendly, according to Palpita, but he was probably referring to ISPs and not citizens, since the software is intended to automatically block all the porn sites before internet users are able to access them. Palpita added that discussions are currently being held with all internet service providers in the country regarding the implementation of the software.
According to Dr. Ruwan Weerasinghe, Director of the School of Computing at the University of Colombo, "The software installation should be made mandatory for all the service providers.
ColomboPage.com also has reported that a Juvenile Court ordered the TRC to ban 107 porn sites and local movies containing adult content, after a report was filed by the Women and Children Unit of the Police in August.
