Pornhub open to working with PHL govt

Pornhub is willing to work with the Philippine government to crack down on child pornography, an executive told GMA News Online on Tuesday.

Pornhub vice president Corey Price, nonetheless, said that banning pornsites instead of going after child pornographers would allow the illicit activity to proceed beyond the reach of law enforcement.

Int'l cooperation vs. child porn

"Non-consensual and child pornography is strictly prohibited on Pornhub. It's disappointing that Pornhub was blocked as it will just drive people to use less vetted, riskier, smaller websites," Price said in an email.

"We're open to working with government officials to meet their standards in the Philippines," he added.

Internet freedom advocates criticized the government crackdown on porn sites, saying it cast a dark shadow on citizens' use of the internet as a whole.

"That child pornography is considered one of the most base evils deserving universal condemnation is not, and should not be, in contention," said Atty. Marnie Tonson, legal counsel of the Philippine Internet Freedom Alliance.

"Child pornography is outlawed under Philippine law and is banned worldwide under the Treaty Against Child Pornography," he added.

Even non-porn sites affected

"What troubles us, or should trouble us, is the method of fighting this evil. In this situation, everyone's access to the porn sites targeted was blocked en masse. The constitutional right to privacy of communications—yours, mine, and everyone else's—becomes collateral damage," Tonson said.

Democracy.net.ph  co-founder Pierre Tito Galla adverted to the precedent that the National Telecommunications Commission may have set.

"Any government agency, without need for a court order, can now ask the National Telecommunications Commission to block a news website, for example, because it finds the site's contents objectionable," Galla said.

"Just misapply the law on sedition, and the government is good to go," he added.

"If the government is serious about addressing child pornography and online sexual abuse of children, they need to look beyond censorship and address the gaps in legislation and law enforcement," added Aissa Ereñeta, a development worker with an international child protection organization.

Draconian gov't measures

Over the weekend, the NTC ordered a blanket block on websites that contain child pornography, regardless of whether or not the sites themselves are actively against such illegal content.

The government said that it was only cracking down on child pornography  but the directive has resulted in the full blockage of entire sites—a move that critics see as draconian.

Moreover, critics argue that the government should go directly after producers and sources of illegal content.

In its Terms of Service, Pornhub makes users expressly agree "not to use the Website to... post any Content depicting child pornography, rape, snuff, torture, death, violence, or incest, racial slurs or hate speech, (either aurally or via the written word)". —NB, GMA News