Looking to Filter Negative Content Out, Rudiantara Insists on Unblocking Vimeo

Minister of Communication and Information Rudiantara’s attempt to unblock Vimeo seems to be one of the hottest events taking place in Indonesian digital scene right now. The blockage of Vimeo has even been carried on since last May, when previous Minister Tifatul Sembiring instructed all ISPs in Indonesia to block any access to the website.

It’s obvious that Rudiantara has a contrasting approach with his predecessor. Yesterday, he and Vimeo’s CEO Kerry Trainor had just had a video conference to discuss about the filtering of porn and nude content out of Vimeo. Rudiantara also invited internet users and people who work in the creative industry, those whom he claims to be the ones who long for the access to Vimeo to be re-opened, to take a part in the conference.

As CNN Indonesia reported, Rudiantara stated, “Video sharing platforms like Vimeo have so many to give us. However, we need to filter out the negative content away.”

He further suggested that porn is something unforgivable, particularly in the digital scene. “Once Indonesians are as smart as Americans, for instance, then it’s not necessary for the government to block negative content. The fact is that people there can determine which one is good and which one is not,” he emphasized.

Prior to the inclusion of Vimeo into the Trust Positif’s list, the ISPs are obliged to block the access to the website. Recently, the government has even instructed ISPs to block any access to alternative DNS, including Google Public DNS and OpenDNS, in order to reduce the number of access to websites which get blocked by DNS.

Vimeo itself regards nudity as a part of art, and this is particularly the reason why Tifatul Sembiring decided to block any access to the website effective since May 2014.Rudiantara, on the contrary, suggested that the government only needs to filter negative content out of the website, not fully block the website.

“Faster is better. We’re waiting for any technical response from Vimeo,” he ended.

[Illustration: Shutterstock]