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	Podcast:		Dialogika Podcast
	Episode:		Episode 37: Dirty Jobs: Indonesia Rages Against the Porn Machines
	Category:		Society & Culture
	Duration:		00:24:02
	Publish Date:		2017-11-15 20:29:36
	Description:		In this episode, we discuss last week's Whatsapp controversy, where the Ministry of Communications & Information Technology (Kemenkominfo) threatened to block Whatsapp because people reported the proliferation of so-called "pornographic" GIFs on the platform. After a lot of back and forth, the ministry has backed down from its threats and the controversy has, for now, died down. That said, we want to take this opportunity to open up a broader conversation around the UU Pornografi & Pornoaksi (the Pornography and Pornoaction Law) that would have allowed the government to block Whatsapp. This law, which was put into place in 2008, basically provides an incredibly broad and legally vague definition of pornography, allowing the government to use it for its own patriarchal means. We talk about how in Indonesia, the law in general is often times male, and this law in particular has been used to police women's bodies and restrict their freedom. While it might seem trivial that we're talking about a ban that never happened, or that we may seem like we're supporting pornography, our discussion is really about how these kind of open-ended laws are a threat to our freedom of speech, our rights, and our democracy.
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