Around 30,000 people use free Wi-Fi to browse porn websites everyday in Mumbai: Maharashtra State IT dept

The Maharashtra State IT department claims that about 30,000 people in Mumbai use the free Wi-Fi at about 510 spots to browse porn websites daily. The department further revealed that this figure accounts for about 10 percent of the three lakh users that make use of the free Wi-Fi services every day. The department further claimed that there is no way to stop them, as reported by The Hindustan Times. According to the report, VK Gautam, the principal secretary for state IT department added, “This is a game of cat and mouse, where we block such websites and they keep coming up using different domain names. No one can stop them. It is a continuous process, which will go on forever.” The free Wi-Fi project was rolled out on 6 January, just days before the Mumbai civic polls, making Mumbai the first city in India with Wi-Fi connectivity. The initial tally of 510 hotspots grew to 585 with the activation of an additional 75 hotspots around the city. The department has blocked 38 websites and sent the list to Department of Telecom. Gautam concludes by saying, “The problem is, people won’t stop watching pornography. What we can do is keep refining the system. As soon as a user tries to access such websites, we have a system which blocks the access. The 38 websites are those that somehow escaped from our system.” Mumbai is not the only city where people have used free Wi-Fi services to access porn websites. Back in October of last year, Authorities at Bihar’s Patna Railway Station blocked access to porn sites in its free Wi-Fi service at the station. “We have acted after it was found that free Wi-Fi service was used for opening porn sites at Patna railway station and also in view of reports of last week,” Arvind Razak, the Chief Public Relations Officer (CPRO) of East Central Railway (ECR).