Iceland may soon become the first Western democracy to ban all Internet pornography. Politicians are worried over the potentially harmful effects that pornography has on children, so instead of trying to regulate it they may block it entirely.
According to the Daily Mail, Interior Minister Ögmundur Jónasson has taken the helm on the issue, and he’s set up committees to work on banning the viewing of pornography from computers, video game consoles and smart phones. Various technological methods wound enforce the ban, like blocking any porn IP addresses and making it illegal to purchase pornography with an Icelandic credit card.
Halla Gunnarsdottir, an adviser to Jonasson, told the Daily Mail:
There is a strong consensus building in Iceland. We have so many experts from educationalists to the police and those who work with children behind this, that this has become much broader than party politics. This move is not anti-sex. It is anti-violence because young children are seeing porn and acting it out. That is where we draw the line. This material is blurring the boundaries for young people about what is right and wrong.
These proposals are expected to be written into law this year. The ban would use Internet filters similar to the ones controversially used by China, although these are proposed under the guise of protecting the safety of women and children.
It is already illegal to produce or distribute pornography in Iceland, but this ban would be the first of its kind for the Internet, at least in Western countries. Strip clubs were also banned in Iceland in 2010 on the rationale that the clubs themselves violate the rights of the women who work there.