South Africa To Censor Internet Porn

South Africa looks set to follow the lead of Australia and introduce broad scale internet censorship, with a proposal to block internet porn.

Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Malusi Gigaba has put the proposal to South Africa’s Law Reform Commission, arguing that “Cars are already provided with brakes and seatbelts… There is no reason why the internet should be provided without the necessary restrictive mechanisms built into it.”

According to the BBC, a group called “Justice Alliance for South Africa” is pushing for the censorship of pornography, with the proposal to also cover mobile phones and television. The same BBC report notes that “pornography is a subject of ongoing debate in South Africa.”

As with Australia, you can’t help but wonder that censorship proposals are a distraction from real issues: South Africa has some of the highest crime rates in the world, and a rampant HIV/ Aids epidemic.