India has blocked hundreds of adult websites to prevent pornography becoming a social nuisance, a government official said Monday, sparking a debate about censorship and freedom in the world's largest democracy.
In India's first big crackdown on Internet porn, service providers have been directed to block 857 websites, said N.N. Kaul, a spokesman at the department of telecommunications.
"Free and open access to porn websites has been brought under check," Kaul said. "We don't want them to become a social nuisance."