Pinoy Porn Site Shut Down

MANILA, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / 07 Sept) – Philippines’ National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) on Friday tracked down the alleged owner of a Filipino web site accused of pornography by a solon.

Sen. Loren Legarda said the website boybastos.com provides Internet users, including minors, free and unrestricted access to the largest online accumulation of “extremely” hardcore pornographic materials of Filipino women and girls.

“This is by far the filthiest Internet site we've come across that offers open and unlimited access to some of the most obscene videos and photographs of Filipino women and girls,” Legarda said.

She urged the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) and the NBI to find ways to shut off boybastos.com, which claims on its site to be "the premiere bastos (lewd) portal of the Philippines.”

The IACAT is the agency tasked to enforce the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act and other laws against the prostitution, white slavery and the sexual exploitation of women and children.

The NBI tracked down the owner of the website through its hosting provider and was held for questioning over the reports. The young man said the website was only for entertainment.

The gallery on Friday was offline and a notice on the site reads: “Mga mahal naming boys bastos, masyado po tumaas ang traffic ng site dahil sa libreng publicity na binigay satin ni Senadora, GMA News, at iba pang mga istasyson ng radyo."

"Dahil dito, baka ma-kansela ang account natin sa ating hosting provider at lalo nang magkandaloko-loko. Pahinga muna tayo mga kaibigan.”“Maraming site dyan na pwede nyo bisitahin, alam nyo naman na siguro yun. Babalik po tayo (online) paglipas ng ilang araw,” it said.

Catanduanes Rep. Joseph Santiago, chairman of the House committee on information and communications technology, also supported Legarda in the war on computer pornography.

“We wholly support the fight against online pornography," Santiago said in a statement sent to the Mindanao Examiner.

Santiago said the decision of boybastos.com to close down its electronic gallery of Filipino women and girls indicates guilt, and “that its administrator is fearful of the potential legal consequences of the site's lewd materials.”

Santiago also said the NBI could find ways to remove the domain name boybastos.com with the help of Network Solutions Inc., a US company that registers and manages domain names.

“We've checked the domain name boybastos.com. It is registered with Network Solutions. The original domain name registrant is traceable, even if they tampered with the online listing on the day Senator Legarda assailed the site, and put in her name as registrant, apparently in a feeble attempt to mock her,” Santiago said.

“The US Federal Bureau of Investigation has already managed to get Network Solutions to remove several domain names used by pedophiles to traffic in child porn,” Santiago said.

“The NBI can make a case that the porn site has been violating existing Philippine laws against obscenity and child sexual exploitation. This can then be used to persuade Network Solutions to remove the domain name boybastos.com,” Santiago said.