SINGAPORE - The nation's Internet service providers will be required by year's end to offer server-level filtering to keep kids away from online porn.
Information and the Arts Minister George Yeo told parliament today that nannyware was in the interest of "cleaner, more sanitized" Internet service. He said children were now knowledgeable about gaining access even to blocked sites.
Singapore has strict laws against pornography and censors films, books, and the Internet. The Singapore Broadcasting Authority already has banned some 100 Web sites that promote pornography, violence, and racial or religious hatred.
The government's new guidelines also encourage providers to sift out Web sites containing banned material, if aware of them.
Meanwhile in neighboring Malaysia - where the prime minister has cautioned the nation's youth against the "damaging consequences" of "technology without morality" and says he'd censor Net porn if he had the technology - some cybercafes will be required beginning next month to pay a US$5,100 deposit as a guarantee that their screens stay smut-free.
"If a cybercafe terminal is found operating a porno site, we will confiscate the deposit," said a local official in Petaling Jaya, just south of the capital, Kuala Lumpur.
