Censorship office plans classification system

National, Normal
Source:

The National, Thursday January 30th, 2014

 THE Censorship Office of Papua New Guinea has launched its 2014-18 corporate plans to classify films and publications for public consumption.

The plan includes amendment of the Classification of Publication (Censorship) Act, internet filtering system (IFS) and database upgrade which will be rolled out from this year. 

Chief Censor Steven Mala said the Censorship Office was preparing a concept paper on IFS for Youth, Religion and Community Development Minister to table in Cabinet for its endorsement so that preparatory work could begin to have a filtering system soon to monitor and control the accessibility of undesirable material via the internet.

Mala said it was like starting an organisation from nowhere when he initiated the elevation of the chief censor’s position, establishment restructure, national censorship policy, corporate plan and the censorship database system as the foundation.

“All the foundations were laid and the office is ready to move forward. The organisation is now better prepared to meet the challenges posed by modern technology. 

“I am wary of the increase use of technology and the social issues associated with it. 

“I urge users of all ages to be mindful that it can control your life and eventually destroy it if you choose to continue to partake in these activities which are deemed illegal, such as downloading pornographic material or x-rated films via the internet, copying and distributing for general use or viewing,” Mala said.