Iceland wants to freeze out pornography

• Tweet

REYKJAVIK, Iceland, Feb. 16 (UPI) -- Officials in Iceland say they will try to ban Internet pornography, saying the explicit online images threaten the welfare of children.

Halla Gunnarsdottir, an adviser to the nation's interior minister, says "a strong consensus" is building for such an effort, CNN reported Friday.

"We have so many experts, from educationalists to the police and those who work with children behind this, that this has become much broader than party politics," Gunnarsdottir said.

"This move is not anti-sex," he added. "It is anti-violence because young children are seeing porn and acting it out. That is where we draw the line. This material is blurring the boundaries for young people about what is right and wrong."

Iceland has zero tolerance for pornography. The printing and distribution of porn has been banned for years, but the laws did not anticipate the Web.

Interior Minister Ogmundur Jonasson has appointed committees to study how to keep young people from accessing pornography on computers, game consoles and smart phones.

Birgitta Jonsdottir, a member of Iceland's parliament who usually supports Jonasson, says the minister is "way off track" in attempting a porn ban, which she says has a "near zero" chance of being approved by parliament.