Israel bloggers set to protest

Internet pros call content filtering 'inappropriate'

By YAIR RAVEH

TEL AVIV - Bloggers and Internet professionals in Israel plan to launch both organized and ad-hoc protests in upcoming weeks over a new bill calling for the mandatory filtering of content deemed by Israeli parliament as "inappropriate."

The ban purports to concern mostly pornography and gambling sites. The bill, written by Orthodox members of Israel's parliament the Knesset, has already passed a first reading and, if not thwarted by its third reading, will be made into law.

The bill, nicknamed "The Internet Porn Law," proposes that a committee headed by the minister of communication will form a blacklist of sites that pose a threat to Israeli children. Those sites will then be blocked by ISPs. Filtering will be disabled only if an adult specifically asks for the removal of the service.

Opponents of the bill, most of them bloggers who deluged Hebrew-language sites with uproarious comments, say that in the guise of "protection of children" the law will impose censorship on the Internet in Israel, just as in countries such as Iran, China, Burma, North Korea and Saudi Arabia.

"I am outraged by the attitude that sees all the civilians in the state as children who need constant supervision," says Gadi Shimshon, an independent online content editor, strategic adviser and one of the leading tech bloggers in Israel. "I didn't expect much from the religious Knesset members who wrote the bill, but I'm disappointed with liberal Knesset members who voted to approve the bill. They are so technophobic that they really think this bill is guarding the wellbeing of our children. It has to be said: This bill has nothing to do with the safekeeping of children; instead it reeks of greasy righteousness and political power plays."

Dr. Yitzhak Kadman, head of the National Council for the Child, told the Jerusalem Post that he opposed the bill in its current form. "I propose that Internet suppliers be obligated to provide parents with a variety of Internet filters free of charge. And if the parents choose to block content, they can do so in accordance with their sensibilities. But I oppose a centrally controlled censorship of the Internet," Kadman said.

Bloggers have teamed up with the Israeli Internet Assn. to oppose the bill. "It's tragic, but the technophobic media in Israel didn't include a single report of one of the most outrageous bills proposed in a Western democracy on (any) of the evening news programs (or on any) of the channels," Shimshon says.