KATHMANDU, SEP 15
Shiva Pokhrel of Dillibazar received a facebook friendship request from a girl named Pooja Lama. Later, this friendship turned into a worst nightmare for Pokhrel as he frequently started receiving erotic messages along with vulgar comments from her. Finally, he blocked Pooja when he found out that girl was a sex-worker.
Sandeep Maharjan, of Basundhara also faced a similar ordeal. Through facebook, he befriended a guy named Sandip Thapa. However, he was stunned when he received a message from Thapa that read, “Nepali girl, one night Rs. 500.” Thapa even started sending pictures of nude women.
Social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Hi5 and Orkut, etc have become an integral part of modern life for urban dwellers. According to Internet Service Providers Association of Nepal (ISPAP), there are more than 600,000 facebook users alone in Nepal. But these social sites are also being increasedly used for peddling pornography and soliciting sex. Now, authorities are not ruling out blocking access to these sites. This comes amid the government’s tough line against pornographic sites. Access to Facebook has already been blocked intermittently in several countries including Pakistan, Syria, China, Vietnam and Iran following controversies and concerns over pornography.
It is also banned in many corporate houses in Nepal — partly to discourage employees from wasting productive hours. Now concerns about abuse of social networking sites are attracting the attention of the authorities as well.
“If necessary, we may block access to these sites,” said Kailash Prasad Neupane, Spokesman for the Nepal Telecommunications Authority. “We are also holding talks with the Home Ministry to deal with these issues.”
According to the Home Ministry, study on the impact of such sites is underway. “We are planning to issue a notice to the public in this regard soon in cooperation with the Authority. Internet service providers will also be urged to discourage the use of such sites,” said Jay Mukunda Khanal, Under-Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs.
Internet service providers say that they are ready to cooperate with the authorities. “We have the ability to block access to these sites, but we can only do so if the government issues a directive,” said Binay Bohora, President, ISPAP. “We can block links to particular profiles if there is evidence of abuse,” he added.
Electronic Transaction Act 2063 prohibits the broadcasting of any obscene content through electronic media. Those found guilty can be fined up to Rs. 100,000 or five-year imprisonment or both.
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