Yahoo, Flickr sing anti-porn tune in India

BANGALORE, INDIA: Yes, the debate over Internet censorship has got stronger once again with search engines like Yahoo as well as Yahoo-owned photo-sharing site Flickr reportedly blocking access to 'adult material' in India, in response to the recent changes to the Information Technology Act of 2000, as did by Microsoft's hot search engine Bing.

The investigation suggests Microsoft and Yahoo have already taken steps to avoid the rather stiff punishments. If a search engine (or, indeed, Internet cafe) isn't careful about what sites it makes available, its officers might face three years in jail and a fine of up to Rs 500,000.

But interestingly such restrictions seems to have made no impact among the web-savvy Indians who go on searching 'hot' topics.

Indian users of Bing are told "your country or region requires a strict Bing SafeSearch setting, which filters out results that might return adult content."

But when you change the country to any Western nation the land of Kamasutra opens up its 'erotic' self! For example, even now Bing search plays all the hot videos for you, if you change the settings to US or any 'liberal' country instead of India.

Law enforcement should not like erecting a placard saying “Mosquitoes Banned”. But quite often that is what is happening and the 'inquisitive' web searchers get all the chance to go in search of the forbidden fruit.