Indonesia’s Communications and Information Technology Minister Tifatul Sembiring has given BlackBerry maker Research in Motion (RIM) a 2 weeks deadline to block pornography content off the population, the AFP reported.
Government officials have complained about the difficulties of monitoring communications through smartphones.
So, the solution here seems to be getting smartphone makers to cut off any pornography content which can be accessed through mobile devices.
“We have repeatedly asked them to do it and we have given them some time,” Sembiring was quoted as saying by the Jakarta Globe newspaper on Saturday.
“If they keep delaying, we will shut down their operation here because they fail to comply with our laws,” he added. Details of the extent of any curbs were unclear.
His statement had drawn protests on Twitter yesterday.
“Can you guarantee that the flow of pornography will be reduced after BB is blocked?” user @TiffanyWilliam tweeted. Her tweet was hugely popular with more over 100 retweets. Apparently, many people also shared the same sentiment. The image below shows the original tweet in Bahasa Indonesian.
In response, Sembiring, who is from a conservative Islamic party, told over 140,000 of his followers on Twitter that he was only “executing the laws”.
“So far, it seems that RIM is dragging time in carrying out its commitment. As a nation, do we want to be treated in that way?” he wrote in one Tweet.
He also said: “We’re not negotiating, if RIM does not comply with the rules and laws of Indonesia, enough is enough!”
BlackBerry currently has over 2 million users in Indonesia and probably has to comply with Indonesia’s demand if it wishes to continue its operations in the country. With 240 million people, Indonesia is the fourth most populous country in the world and is seen as a major emerging market for information technology and mobile communications.
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