YNOT EUROPE – Three years after an Egyptian administrative court denounced adult content as “venomous and vile,” sexually explicit websites have been banned in the country. Observers lay the edict at the feet of fundamentalist Islamic groups that increasingly influence Egyptian elections and morality.

According to Reuters, State Prosecutor General Abdel Maguid Mahmoud has ordered government ministries “to take the necessary measures to block any corrupt or corrupting pornographic pictures or scenes inconsistent with the values and traditions of the Egyptian people and the higher interests of the state.”

The order follows a reversal of opinion in the Egyptian administration. Following a May 2009 move by political conservatives, an Egyptian court ordered online porn blocked at the ISP level. The Ministry of Communication refused to comply. Responsibility for family welfare and individual morality lies with each internet user, the ministry said.

Not so anymore. In March 2012, an Egyptian judge decreed all porn illegal. With conservatives dominating the country’s legislature, no one was surprised by Mahmoud’s edict.

Conservatives view the order as a huge step in the right direction — toward an Egypt ruled by Islamic law. Critics are concerned banning porn could lead to censorship of other speech, as well.

“I’m not arguing with anyone about porn but know this: Ban porn sites today; ban your sites tomorrow,” Egyptian-American activist Mona Eltahawy tweeted after the decree was made public.

Regardless where the majority of public sentiment lies about internet censorship in general and porn in particular, the Egyptian government already has encountered resistance to the projected costs of enforcement. Technology experts estimate the ban could cost the equivalent of U.S. $16.5 million in a country where many residents are unemployed and living without basic necessities like power. Critics assert a sum that large could be put to better use.