Internet Act in Tonga Wanted by Public Says Communications Minister Featured
Hon. Siaosi Sovaleni Communications Minister
Nuku'alofa, 12 Ocotber 2015. The Communications Minister in Tonga says moves to create a new body with powers to block selected online content has addressed public concerns about internet usage.
Siaosi Sovaleni says bills passed through the house last week aim to protect children from misusing the internet.
If a website or internet connection is disseminating information deemed not good for the community, a new commission will have the authority to take down the website.
Mandatory filtering will also come into force which will block some inappropriate websites although people can opt out of this.
Mr Sovaleni says the changes in law answer issues that came up in public consultations.
"There were some concerns about the negative impact of the high penetration of using the internet and so forth so there are a couple of provisions that actually provide some measures to mitigate those potential problems."
Mr Sovaleni says it is important to keep child pornography and other such material out of the kingdom but peoples' freedoms will not be infringed upon in doing so.
Source: RNZI
15 comments
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Mo'oni lahi. Nau nofo nautolu ke fakatotolo'i e kakai kehe kae 'ikai ke nau 'uluaki sio HIFO kia kinautolu pe 'oku nau ma'a pe 'ikai. Mou poloka a 'e moutolu e 'initaneti kae sio fakalielia pe kakai ia 'ia kimoutolu moe anga ho'omou mo'ui. It's common knowledge how the Deputy PM changes women bedmates like changing his soiled linen, similarly with his other friend/ex-calssmate ministers, 'enau ngaahi extra-marital affairs, some with their own senior staff. So who are they to lecture us on what to allow/not allow into the privacy of our own homes? What a pathetic lot. Grow up and start cleaning yourselves and your lives before you even look at the colour of your neighbour's house. hooiii, you of all people!!!
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KO E POMÚ KOE MA'AKE...Ko kitautolu 'oku totonu ketau fai e fili mo e "filter" mo hono malu'i 'etau fānaú.
'Ikai ha'aku falala 'e taha ki he kau taki mo 'enau mo'ui ta'e kalasi mo fake-lielia 'i he Pule'angá kenau malu'i 'eku fānaú. Takitaha ō 'o tauhi 'enau fānau. Tuku ki he mātu'a mo e kau faifekau kenau tauhi e mo'ui fk-laumālie 'a e fānaú. -
Ko e foi me'a mooni ena ia Maake uluaki moui ma'a e kau Minisita mo CEO moe kau taki Pule'anga.
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'Ihe anga 'eku fakakaukau, if we are doing this for the morality of our children, then I suggest that we first need to weed out 'a e kau Minista, CEO, Directors 'oku nau nonofo kovi holo, committing adultery 'o li'aki 'enau ngaahi mali he 'oku hoko ia koe fkholoki molale kihe fanau. Looking up to people like this as leaders of our country. We need to look at this first before we filter our internet. Like any other technology, the internet , like the mobile phones, cable TV, cars or even our stove, 'oku 'iai pe hono lelei pea mo hono kovi. If we are doing this to our internet, how come 'oku 'ikai ke tau filter ai 'ae ngaahi hiva kapekape fakalielia moe movies 'oku fakatau atu 'i Tonga ni, like movies with MA-18+ ratings, this is could be porn but still 'oku fakatau atu pe ia 'ihe ngaahi fale faiva 'i Tonga. Pea koe fehu'i leva, what do we consider safe for our children? Is Rated-R movies safe? Where do we draw the line? Who decides where to draw the line? Am I not a free Tongan to draw my own line? If the state draw the line for me, how are we different from Dictatorship?
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Mālō 'aupito Solomone Hausia...by the way, I apologize for the misspelling of your name; the computer is proof-reading our Tongan incorrectly.
Of course we know about unsupervised minors, and rebellious minors as well. But I would argue this is a minority section of our population. By putting the emphasis on them may breach the rights of the majority of the population to our free speech liberty. Parents must take into account the potential harm their under-age children would face if parents pickup and move overseas. Our Tongan custom encourages us to provide for the children's safety and security (including the Internet) in all family plans. We cannot rely on the state to decide for our children, because they would be subjected to abuse and molestation.
This is my complaint about losing my rights of liberty to broadcast and receive free speech on the Internet. Who is Hon. Siaosi Sovaleni to tell me and my children what program we "should be watching, or broadcasting?" I don't approve of Mr. Sovaleni's lifystyle, his values, and the way he lives his life, so why should I trust him with my children's safety, security, and moral values?
Mr. Tuipeatau contested the Government's flawed technology, with examples tested in Australia. The Government's claims are not substantiated by facts; they're appealing to our lowest common denominator - emotionally moved to fear losing control of our children. Our animalistic instincts want to use anything in our power to defend our offsprings. Government is using dishonest and fear mongering techniques to pretend protecting our children, but are in essence chipping away on our free speech rights. -
Malo Mokofisi. Let me try to clarify myself as I do agree that what I wrote before could be construed as being illogical.
My comment regarding parents is regarding the statement from Tuipeatau that "The concern that children with mobiles are accessing inappropriate content is valid, however, the responsibility should belong to parents not the 'state'". Hence, my statement what if there are no functional parents in the lives of these children either because the parents divorce, move overseas while the children stays in Tonga, etc. So, if there is no help from these parents, and no help from the state then what then? Let it be, I guess.
I know that there are existing laws for printed material, movies, broadcasting in both TV and Radio. Thus the state decides, regulates and tells us what contents that are appropriate for us consumers in the various communication medium of books,magazines,radio,movies and TV. There is already an existing Czar which may be an individual or group of people that had been doing this job since the above technologies came to Tonga. However, I don't know of anyone who had lodged a complaint or voice an opinion that this act of censorship by the state is bad as it infringes on our rights for free speech.
The Internet is a different animal in how it works but is just ANOTHER medium of delivery. The existing laws in Tonga is not enough to enable the government to continue to do its censorship duties that it had been doing for the other medium of communication. Hence, I believe the reason for this new bill being proposed.
So, what I was trying to say is that, if this new proposal to control Internet traffic is bad as we consumers knows best then I propose to take it further to the other medium of delivery. For example, no more regulation for printed material so any store can sell pornography magazine (discretely of course) and we as parents should educate our children not to buy these material as they are not appropriate. This is an infringement on our freedom and it should be stop.
Or how about, abolish the regulation of TV and any one who wants to start up a TV that brodacast pornographic material should be able to do so. Let the choice of the consumers decide if it is something profitable to be done in Tonga, but it is NOT a job of the state to say no to its availability. And again, parents can program their TV to filter out these TV programs and block it but it is NOT a job of the state.
So that is what I was trying to say. That is, we can't be OK with state regulation and censorship with pre-Internet technologies and suddenly go aginst it when the Internet arrives. And if we want no regulation with Internet delivery content, then we shoud also remove all regulation of the other medium of delivery such as movies, printed materials, Radio and TV.
Malo -
Mālō Solomone Hausa...Your premise: Some protection is better than nothing? Aren't there laws in the books already against child pornography, and lewd contents? And you contradict yourself; aren't there laws against sales of adult magazines, alcohol, and tobacco to minors?
You don't make sense asking about "parents not involved..." What do you mean by that? What do you mean, "Anybody can set up a radio and TV..." That is not true. Their license prohibits them from broadcast certain contents.
Perhaps you need to do a little research about freedom of the press, and free speech, before posting illogical comments. That's your freedom of speech, but we also have the right to criticize your comments, too. -
The argument that because the Internet traffic is different hence there should be no regulation does not sounds right to me. Some protection, while not perfect, is better than nothing. How about those children with parents not involved in their life due to various reasons such as divorce, moving overseas, etc?
How about TV or Radio broadcast? How about printed materials?
Are you saying that the government should NOT regulate it? Hence, anybody can set up and broadcast TV or radio programs/shows with adult content and Tongan citizens can choose what they can/can't watch?
In addition, are you saying that anybody can sell magazine with adult content in stores in Tonga?
That is, NO authority to regulate content and the Tongan consumers are the best to filter what material to watch, listen and read? -
Spot on Mr. Mokofisi, the lack of oversight with this sort of approach is a concern/unclear.
The interesting bit though is having a Commission decide what is morally correct for the rest of us - the list of blocked sites may start with child abuse sites but can potentially expand to cover whatever else the Commission deemed "not good for the community". 'Commission' is a big word that seems to be thrown around as if 'they' are our fail-safe solution to any misuse/biased decision-making... and yet a 'Commission' is nothing more than a group of humans capable of misusing power and biased decisions.
Anyhow, this is a classic example of trying to address a social issue with a technical solution... slightly more amusing though is legislating based on a technical solution - technology constantly changes and in this particular technology - there are many ways to circumvent the proposed ISP filters.
The concern that children with mobiles are accessing inappropriate content is valid, however, the responsibility should belong to parents not the 'state' - and rather than the "Opt out filtering" that the bill talks about - perhaps the Govt should propose a bill that directs ISPs to re-engineer their current business processes to ensure that minors do not have access to mobile sim cards etc... and if a customer is of legal age then the customer makes a moral decision whether or not a filter is to be placed on the 'service' rather than the government mandating that a customer is 'censored' by DEFAULT when a new internet service is provisioned….
Faka'apa'apa atu,
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Mālō Tukulalo...Ko e fatongia mahu'inga 'e taha 'o e Konisitūtoné ketau lau ki aí, ko e ta'ota'ofi e mafai 'o e Pule'angá, mo 'enau fanga poné. Na'e 'omai 'e Tupou I, mo Misi Peka, pea mo e loea 'i 'Aositelēlia ko St. Julian (1875) 'a e ngaahi kongokonga mahu'inga mei he Konisitūtone 'o e Pule'anga faka-Tu'i 'o Hawai'í (1839), 'a ia na'e unga 'i he Konisitūtone 'Ameliká (1776).
Mahu'inga ai 'a hono faka-ngatangata 'o e mālohi mo e mafai 'o e Pule'angá kenau to'o ta'e fakalao 'a e tau'atāina 'a e kakaí. Kau ai mo e feinga ma'upē 'a e Pule'angá kenau mapule'i 'etau tau'atāina leá, fa'ahinga tohi 'oku tau fie lautohí ai, mata faivá he TV pe ko e Ngaluopé, pe ko 'etau fie pulusi ha'a tau ta'anga pe fa'utohi. Ko e tau'atāina ia 'oku tau lava ai 'o ako ha ngaahi me'a fo'ou pea fakalakalaka ai hotau 'atamaí.
(1) 'Oku 'ikai nonga e Pule'angá ka e 'oleva pē kuo nau mapule'i kitautolu 'o hangē ha'a nau fãnau valevalé (paternalism). (2) 'Oku nau poto ange pē kinautolu, pea 'oku tau vale kitautolu he ko e tamai kinautolu, ka e fānau valevale kitautolu. (3) 'Oku nau fiema'u ketau nofo pe he vale-ngangaú koe'uhi ketau fili ma'upē 'ia kinautolu ki Fale Aleá.
Ko ia 'oku totonu ketau hu'uhu'u ma'upē 'i he talamai 'oku nau fie "malu'i 'etau fānaú mo e kakai fefiné" mei he ngaahi me'a fakalieliá. Hili ko ia, ko e tokolahi 'o e kau taki 'i he Pule'angá kuo nau fanafanau tu'utāmaki holo; mahalo ko kinautolu 'oku tõtu'a 'enau faka-lieliá.