YNOT EUROPE – Internet service providers, adult entertainment consumers and porn producers breathed a collective sigh of relief on Tuesday after the European Parliament rejected a proposal to outlaw “all forms of pornography” in the real world and online.

On a vote of 368-159, Members of the European Parliament approved a report that condemns gender stereotypes, but the attached measure to ban porn as a tool of repression and subjugation failed to receive support. Ninety-eight of 625 MEPs abstained from the vote.

Put forth by Dutch MEP and Socialist Party member Kartika Tamara Liotard, the porn-ban proposal came to light as the EP considered a December report entitled “Eliminating gender stereotypes in the EU.” Parliament’s primary purpose in considering the report, according to regional media, was to present a resolution as a precursor to enacting legislation aimed at protecting education, employment and social services for at-risk groups. Liotard and her supporters reportedly attached the porn-ban proposal as part of a socially conservative agenda that seeks the elimination of controversial material, content that may be harmful to children and sex trafficking.

Legislation issued by Parliament is binding across the 27 states across the European Union.

Opponents of the proposal not only objected to the outright censorship inherent in banning an ill-defined category of internet content, but also to a provision that would have granted internet service providers unfettered rights to snoop on and police the actions of their subscribers.

Underscoring opponents’ fears, Parliament’s own tech department blocked incoming emails after a handful of MEPs called for Europeans to make their voices heard by emailing their elected representatives.

A similar citizen outcry and subsequent shutting down of email erupted during the European Parliament’s consideration of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), a transatlantic attempt to standardize piracy laws. ACTA eventually collapsed.