The Knesset Constitution and Law Committee gave initial approval on Sunday to a controversial bill that will automatically prevent internet users from accessing sites that contain violence, gambling or pornography.
The bill proposed by Shas Knesset Member Amnon Cohen will require users to identify themselves in order to prove they are old enough to gain access to the sites.
Internet providers will be required to provide a free screening program to consumers who do not specifically state their rejection of the software. Those who wish to remove the software will be forced to provide an identity card (teudat zehut) or credit card number in order to prove their age.
As a result, the internet providers may gather information about their customers’ ages, genders and movements on the internet as a result of the identification requirement.
There are mixed reactions to the bill, despite its initial approval. Knesset members expressed reservations about the potential invasion of privacy that will inevitably come along with implementation of such a measure.
Concern over whether providers would be able to gather lists of customers who request access to pornography or gambling sites was mixed with questions about who would pay for the program.
Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann agreed to the proposal in principle but insisted that the cost of the screening program not be funded by existing internet users. He also asked Communications Minister Ariel Atias to create a reliable method for users to identify themselves in order to bypass the censorship.
Public reactions to the proposed measure are mixed as well. Many media outlets and bloggers slammed the law as a blatant violation of individual and public freedom, wondering who would have the right to determine which sites should be restricted and which would not.
Sites which cover the news of the day – which often includes violence, for example – may be restricted as a result of the law, complicating high school homework assignments that involve research on the internet.
Other populations, however, have already taken steps to prevent minors from accessing inappropriate material. Rabbinic leaders in the hareidi religious community long ago issued a ban on surfing the internet.
Special “kosher” cell phones have been produced without the feature that generally allows access to the internet and offered at a low cost to encourage their use by the religious population.
Rabbis in stricter communities have banned the presence of the internet in the home altogether.
Tzvi Fishman, who operates the JewishSexuality.com website, has a different take on the matter. Fishman says that the proposed law is not enough. “Why should it be lawful to administer poison to adults and not to young people?” he asked.
"Access to pornography should be banned altogether. It’s consumption by the Jewish people is worse than the eating of pork. As our Sages have repeatedly warned us, nothing pollutes the holy camp of Israel and causes the Divine Presence to flee more than licentiousness."
In the wake of Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, etc, Fishman, a former Holywood screenwriter, has recently launched "Pornoholics Anonymous" (PA) online, which includes a Torah version of the 12 Step Program to deal with what Fishman calls “a spreading epidemic” in the Jewish home. The PA section will soon include an online forum for participants to discuss their struggle with their addiction to pornography and "help both young and old porn addicts break their destructive habit."