Last week, Taoiseach Enda Kenny said Ireland needs to have a national conversation regarding porn. This week, Israeli lawmakers have backed away from a bill that would block all access to adult sites. 

The Israeli Ministerial Committee for Legislation unanimously approved a bill, which would force the country's internet providers to censor adult websites by default. Supporters of the new legislation claim that it is a way to prevent young people getting online. Opposition from regulators in the Communications Ministry on Monday, however, has led the lawmakers to reconsider.

The terms of the bill stated that anyone wanting to access pornography online would have to tell their internet service provider in writing, by ringing them or getting in touch via their website.

In its Monday statement, quoted by Haaretz, the Communications Ministry, which regulates internet access in Israel, said: “The position of the ministry was and remains that no content on the internet should be pre-filtered, and that the various ISPs are obligated to inform the customer of the existence of offensive content online and to supply customers with filtering programs for free.”

Lawmakers say they will now look to revamp the bill in order to fulfill its purpose of empowering parents to restrict their children’s access to adult content, but without compromising the privacy of internet users.