With the way that pornography is popular these days and with so many varieties of porn popping up; it’s really hard to believe that it is actually illegal in some countries. It is also very hard to believe that it is illegal, consideration that it is a multi-billion dollar industry throughout the world. Of course, in most Western countries, porn is legal and it is very widely distributed and popular. The laws are a lot more liberal in North America and in Europe when compared to other parts of the world.
There are places where it is not legal though. For example, the production and distribution of porn is illegal in North Korea, but that is to be expected, since that is a dictatorship that has very stringent laws for just about everything. Even the everyday, mainstream media is very censored their and most of it is run in direct correlation with the government and what the government believes that the people need to be seeing. There was also a rumor that an officer was once executed in North Korea for trying to sell porn.
Internet porn was outlawed in China in 2002 and all websites that had pornographic content were forced to remove this content or face severe penalties. In 2008, the production of porn was band in China by state censors and there have not been any signs since then that have pointed to any possibilities that these laws will be changed and that they might become less stringent.
In 2010, China shut down over 60,000 porn sites and arrested almost 5,000 people who were suspected of being behind these Internet porn sites. Possession of pornography in China is punishable by up to three years in prison.
Another place in which pornography is illegal is Indonesia. According to the current laws, selling and buying porn in Indonesia is prohibited. You are also not allowed to create, distribute or rent such explicit materials either.
It is also illegal to possess porn in Malaysia and heavy fines are instated for people who are caught with pornographic material. However, viewing pornography on the Internet is not a crime in Malaysia; therefore, there is a thriving business of sites that cater to Malaysian porn enthusiasts.
There is a very strong influence in the Philippine culture from conservative Christian groups and that is why pornography is illegal there as well. However, the law that is instated there does not ban webcam sex sites, and a lot of these types of sites are based in the Philippines.
Despite all these laws however, the porn industry functions well on the Internet and on the black market there, and according to reports, the porn industry in that country makes about one billion dollars annually, which makes it the eighth largest porn market in the world.