Internet service providers (ISPs) will be tasked with significant responsibility to keep indecent and obscene material away from youngsters if suggestions included in a consultation paper released Friday to review the Control of Obscene and Indecent Articles Ordinances become law.

The suggestions, demanding that ISPs tighten their control on young people distributing indecent and obscene material, was made after widespread concern over youngsters' easy exposure to it,as demonstrated in the Edison Chen celebrity sex photo saga, during which there was wide circulation of the photos online.

Suggested control measures include asking ISPs to tighten service contracts with subscribers by incorporating specific clauses saying that subscribers publishing such material may have their bandwidth limited or contracts suspended.

The ISPs may be required to provide filtering services to subscribers.

The paper also suggests introducing more statutory requirements to regulate the publication of obscene and indecent materials on the internet, including demanding web users to input their credit card data before accessing a webpage, to prove their age.

Undersecretary for Commerce and Economic Development Gregory So said the government stressed that the government has no intention to act as "internet police".

"The ISPs can decide whether to install the filtering software upon the request of parents. We are just giving the members of the public a choice," he said.

The content of overseas websites will not be regulated, as extraterritorial cooperation is difficult and the definitions of indecent and obscene vary among countries, Commissioner for Television and Entertainment Licensing Maisie Cheng said.

So said the government has established a good relationship with the information technology sector and will consult its view during the review.

The information technology sector said the proposal will impose on it a severe burden.

Hong Kong Internet Service Providers Association Chairman York Mok said it is unfair to force ISPs to shoulder the responsibility of dealing with indecent and obscene material.

Mok expressed fear that the information flow will be affected, especially if communication among individual internet users is regulated.

"It will certainly affect internet users, as they may fear the emails they send are being monitored," he said.

Mok also said that ISPs are not in a proper position to filter websites.

"We do not have the expertise to decide which website is indecent and obscene, and which ones are acceptable," he said. "The content of the websites is changing constantly. We just don't have enough resources to keep checking on them."

He said small ISPs may be forced to close their business if the suggestions are implemented.

Samson Tam, the legislator-elect representing the information technology sector, said that monitoring the content of websites, especially online forums, is difficult.

"It is a very controversial issue. The ISPs cannot bear the responsibility," he said.

Hong Kong Internet Society Chairman Charles Mok said the existing regulatory regime is sufficient and feared that the proposal may affect information exchange.

(HK Edition 10/04/2008 page1)