Censorship law not compatible with present trends: Official

By LULU MARK
PAPUA NEW Guinea’s current censorship law is not compatible with the present trends and development in technology and access to information, an official says.
Office of Censorship (OOC) acting chief censor Jim Abani said there was a decline in the physical appearance of materials such as magazines with pornographic or indecent contents but the virtual circulation of such material had heightened.
With the advent and advance in technology, Abani said pornographic materials were in the palm of people’s hands on their mobile devices rendering it an impossible task to regulate.
“The Classification of Publication (Censorship) Act 1989 is outdated when we are talking about the internet and other forms of modern technology including computers and mobile phones,” he said.
“While we (OOC) have the mandate to regulate and monitor the information content in all forms of communication mediums, the Act lacks specific provisions in addressing information content that is shared online.
“Successive governments have placed minimum emphasis on the impacts of modern technology hence the lack of appropriate mechanisms at the national level to regulate and monitor the use of the internet in the country.”
Abani said the OOC reviewed the Censorship Act 1989 and a proposed Bill for Legislation on Classification of Films, Publications and Online services was developed in 2014 and was still pending legal clearance.