The Ministerial Committee for Legislation on Sunday gave the green light to a bill that requires internet service providers to block online pornography websites as a default setting. Under the bill, internet service providers would be allowed to lift this restriction if customers make a specific request and prove they are over the age of 18. The bill empowers the communications minister to determine which sites would be blocked with the help of content-filtering software. MK Shuli Mualem-Rafaeli (Habayit Hayehudi), who sponsored the bill, said she believes the measure will ultimately reduce access to online violence and pornography among children. "It is easier for children to browse such sites than to buy ice cream at the local grocery store," she said. "We must do something to deny them such easy access in the first place." Proponents of the bill noted that some 60% of children between the age of 9 and 15 browse pornographic sites. The ministers' decision was criticized by the Israel Internet Association, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to promote "the use of the internet for research, communication and collaboration." The group said the bill amounts to censorship and noted that the bill's provisions would "require internet service providers to maintain a database of users who wish to consume legal content, and this could ultimately lead to a major breach of their privacy should this list become public."
