Communication and Information Technology Minister Khaled Negm has said that his ministry is not responsible for the content offered on Internet websites, days after a court ordered a block on porn websites.

“Raising children at home in a good environment is far more important than seeking to block porn websites,” the minister said in statements to Al-Masry Al-Youm, days after the Administrative Court ruled to block porn websites, its third verdict on the matter since 2009.

"Anybody eager to visit those websites cannot be stopped,” the minister said, adding that his ministry is not responsible for the content offered on the web.

“It is impossible for the ministry to block those websites 100 percent,” the minister maintained. “Not a single country in the world could do it since some websites dodge that by technically changing their internet addresses.”

The Arab Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) criticized the verdict for failing to define “porn websites”. It added that the referral of the court order to the Cabinet means the determination of those websites is left to the executive employees’ discretion, which, according to ANHRI, makes it vulnerable to abuse.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm