It’s been an interesting few weeks for domains in Indonesia, with the government encouraging use by offering freebies, and flip-flopping on censorship.
This week, it was reported that the Ministry of Communications has allocated IDR50billion (around USD 3.85 million) to support the registration of one million .id domain names free of charge. The program is aimed at encouraging e-commerce in Indonesia, and reducing international bandwidth usage. There will be a bit of a wait for anyone seeking to participate - the program is set to commence in 2016.
Separately, the Ministry of Communications first blocked and then reopened access to 22 websites that allegedly promote radicalism. The Ministry backed down in response to pressure from rights groups, who argued that the move encroached on rights to free speech. Indonesia’s Electronic Transactions Law allows for censorship of websites that cause offence on religious and/or racial grounds. The Pornography Law and the Copyright Law also all allow for censorship of websites.