Mass Internet censorship to go live in the UK

[Mollfie]

Really? From what I've been hearing, no one really cares about the baby.

 

Or are you talking media exposure?

I dunno, it's all over the TV and papers. People say they don't care, but they'll still talk about it a bit. They'll especially talk about how they don't care about it lol.

[iDEATH]

I know this  has already been posted, but it deserves more attention

SIGN THIS!!

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/51746

 

It doesn't affect me since I live in France, but I do agree that it's a bullshit rule. I don't look at porn myself, since I...you know...to non-pornographic things, but I can't help but feel sorry for those who do. I'm remember hearing that...you know....jerking off....is a basic human need. Don't laugh, it's true.

 

 

While not a need per say, it's a perfectly natural thing. Pretty much every species  on earth indulges in it in some manner or other. Even babies masturbate, when they discover that touching their genitals feels nice they keep doing it.

Then there's the fact that it has health benefits, in men at least, doing it over five times a week can help reduce your chances of getting prostate cancer.

This porn block is a government euthanasia program in disguise

 

I heard that they think censoring these "violent images" will stop children becoming predators themselves.

 

That's stupid when I stumble upon some Adult Male Gay Porn and look at it for a second, I didn't think, hmmm I fancy a bit of bum now. *Joke by the way nothing wrong with Homosexuality*

 

It is stupid it is not as simple as that. 

 

Exactly, this is completely idiotic.

There's no proof whatsoever, that seeing porn at a young age has any effect on a child's development, positively or negatively.

 

Dystopian future incoming? 

 

we've been heading there ever since Cameron got into power.

[Stritix]

Hopefully the petition works. I cannot stand censorship.

[Milkman]

Well, I do not believe that parents nor the goverment can prevent that children will see porn at some point in their lives. Regardless of what software you use to block sites, there are always ways to work around it like proxy's, newsgroups, bittorrent ectra. It is impossible to prevent people from finding porn on the internet. Once someone gets interested in it, they will find it. Regardless if the britts build their great roman pornblocking wall. The thing is that parents should talk about porn with their children and make them understand that whatever they see there, does not reflect sex in reallife.

 

Also the argument that watching porn turns people into sexual predators is just as much bullshit as that playing videogames is the reason why lunatics to spree killings at schools in the US. I've been watching porn for like 10-15 years and never raped anyone. These days goverments can pass any redicules laws with the arguments of protecting children and fighting terrorism.

[RK64]

Wait, so the UK is trying to implement a SOPA-esc system with the internet?  Didn't many get pissed off by what that crap system to the point of mass opposition towards it.  Kinda baffling that the UK is trying to ban the more "mature" parts of the internet, and even though its good that they do this as there really is some messed up stuff online, the internet is a place of freedom of expression and no matter how messed up that expression can be, everyone still has that freedom. 

 

And besides, most search engines have safety settings anyway (which parents could set up BEFORE letting there kids use the internet) so the tools are already there to prevent the messed up stuff to be found, so why does the UK feel that they need to ban these things anyway?

 

I think it has less to do with "its for the children!!!!" and more "lets control EVERYTHING" type of deal; that's what SOPA was trying to do, so I don't see what's so different here. 

[iDEATH]

There was an article in the daily mail today (read it on my break at work, specifically to see what they're saying).

 

They said that TalkTalk have apparently already started phoning people up and asking if they wanted the block or not and apparantly one in three families are saying they do.

The daily mail is considering this a massive victory but I can't help but read those stats as, two out of three don't want it....

 

Assuming these stats are acurate and canbe extrapolated out to the whole population, two thirds of people don't want this but are going to be forced into it....

[SkyLlama]

No sooner does that happen in the UK someone in Canada wants the same...

 

 

A Tory MP from Winnipeg wants to see Canadians "opt in" before they’re allowed to view pornography online.

Conservative MP Joy Smith says she wants to see Canada adopt legislation that requires residents to request access to pornography from their internet service providers or have all pornographic material preemptively blocked.

...
The legislation would also involve search engines — requiring them to block certain phrases and types of pornography.

Smith thinks Canada should do the same.

"We’re talking about protecting children. We’re not talking about adults. Adults can log onto their ISP computers, check on the box and turn off the filter," she said.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/story/2013/07/23/mb-joy-smith-anti-porn-bill-winnipeg.html 

 

But of course! I doubt anything will happen here with the current government, but just thought I'd post this anyway. And I can promise you knowing Canadian telcos it would never be that simple to turn it off, ever.

Edited July 24, 2013 by SkyLlama

[Mollfie]

Cameron has been back peddling on this a bit since people raised the point that it might block medical websites etc, he's been saying that it won't block 'soft porn'. But, what does he consider 'soft porn'?

[iDEATH]

Cameron has been back peddling on this a bit since people raised the point that it might block medical websites etc, he's been saying that it won't block 'soft porn'. But, what does he consider 'soft porn'?

 

Guess someone finally tapped him on the shoulder and whispered "This can't possibly work" in his ear.

[Solkia]

"Adults can log onto their ISP computers, check on the box and turn off the filter."

Seriously? Not everyone with an internet connection knows all the ropes. My dad doesn't even know what the fuck a tab is.

[Milkman]

The whole idea that children should be protected from pornography because it would turn them into sexually deprived rapist is bullshit in my opninion. Sex is part of human nature and it is only natural to get interested in it at some point. That point is usually many years before people are considered adults. Monopolising sex for adults only is just sticking your head in the sand for the truth. Teenagers and even younger children have/develop sexual feelings to. Denying the fact that they have and shelter them from exploring this seems a lot more unhealthy to me. I do think edjucation and talking with "your" children is far more effective for them to develop a healthy sex life then ignoring/forbidding them to explore their own sexuality.

 

Having a filter is in no way a good substitute for proper education and good paranting. It does not address the issue but gives people a false sense of security. We have a filter so my child will never see any porn is delusional. He might see it on his cellphone, at a school computer or at a friends house or finds ways around it. If they want they can do it the good old fashioned way of peeking at magazines at the gass station

 

You do not help anyone by sheltering and ignoring the dangers. Only by exposing people to it and talk about what it really is you arm them to deal with it by understanding that it does not reflect reallife nor a healthy relationship nor will a goverment enforced filter ensure that children ever view porn. If you want it you can easily defeat such filters with little effort.

[iDEATH]

The whole idea that children should be protected from pornography because it would turn them into sexually deprived rapist is bullshit in my opninion. Sex is part of human nature and it is only natural to get interested in it at some point. That point is usually many years before people are considered adults. Monopolising sex for adults only is just sticking your head in the sand for the truth. Teenagers and even younger children have/develop sexual feelings to. Denying the fact that they have and shelter them from exploring this seems a lot more unhealthy to me. I do think edjucation and talking with "your" children is far more effective for them to develop a healthy sex life then ignoring/forbidding them to explore their own sexuality.

 

Having a filter is in no way a good substitute for proper education and good paranting. It does not address the issue but gives people a false sense of security. We have a filter so my child will never see any porn is delusional. He might see it on his cellphone, at a school computer or at a friends house or finds ways around it. If they want they can do it the good old fashioned way of peeking at magazines at the gass station

 

You do not help anyone by sheltering and ignoring the dangers. Only by exposing people to it and talk about what it really is you arm them to deal with it by understanding that it does not reflect reallife nor a healthy relationship nor will a goverment enforced filter ensure that children ever view porn. If you want it you can easily defeat such filters with little effort.

 

exactly, while nobodies saying "show porn to your kids, it's fine", hiding sex from them entirely can only be a bad thing in my opinion. Being open with your kids about sex will lead to a more healthy and open attitude to sex in the future. Treating it like something dirty and shameful is more likely to make the kid feel guilty when the time comes to express their perfectly natural interest in sex.

 

As for the kids finding porn in other places then the family computer. You have to wonder how many of the folk blindly accepting this block read "news"papers like the mail or the sun and leave them lying around the house.

[DGam'r]

Blocking the content will make people find a way around it. Anyways, since this is happening in the UK. Will this start to happen more throughout the world? A SOPAfied internet, that blocks explicit pornography but not soft pornography? So why block explicit pornography if you're not going to block the soft? That doesn't make a damn of sense right there.

[Tani Coyote]

Stuff like this really does show there is no perfect democracy on Earth; every country has its benefits and drawbacks.

 

Didn't they try to block porn a few years ago as well? If it failed then, couldn't it now?

 

My biggest gripe is they're not making this straightforward. They're mandating it but then letting each of the companies have a separate policy... this is the most idiotic part of the policy. If you don't think variety's expensive, that's actually a leading cause of America's healthcare prices - there's so many different insurance policies the bureaucracy needed to juggle them is immense.

 

I cannot see any good coming of the UK not having a single uniform ISP policy. Theoretically market forces would help keep ISPs from becoming too bureaucratic, but that depends entirely on how much people will want to switch ISPs over the matter.

 

If you're going to mandate things, government, mandate them right: have a clear, uniform policy and then demand all ISPs follow it. It doesn't make the law any less stupid, but at least be effective with your tyranny.

 

Here's hoping the Tories get battered at the next polls and this gets torn down hard.

[Dizcrybe]

If this actually goes down, it could turn out to be the new Prohibition. And we all know how well that went.

[Tani Coyote]

If this actually goes down, it could turn out to be the new Prohibition. And we all know how well that went.

 

Censorship of anything in a country that's traditionally free always ends up failing. Once people are used to something they don't take kindly to its removal.

 

Never mind information is so fluid it's effectively impossible to control. This is why we see such draconian measures to try and combat piracy (as it's a force that can't really be stopped short of shutting down the entire internet) or used game sales. Data is effectively impossible to control without destroying your entire electrical network.

 

Ergo, I won't be surprised if there's a bypass. Won't be surprised if a ton of police don't even bother enforcing the law against those who do bypass it.

[Emmett L. Brown]

If this actually goes down, it could turn out to be the new Prohibition. And we all know how well that went.

Sale of adult magazines suddenly sky-rockets. Teens passing around risque copies of National Geographic. First kid to get his voice to drop becomes extremely popular when he phones in to his ISP pretending to be his father.

[Tani Coyote]

Sale of adult magazines suddenly sky-rockets. Teens passing around risque copies of National Geographic. First kid to get his voice to drop becomes extremely popular when he phones in to his ISP pretending to be his father.

 

I can... actually see all of this going. Wouldn't be surprised that, with the fact the government's absolutely dumb with regulating exactly how this will go about, companies really won't check for identification. The best part is a lot of parents probably won't even know about this law to begin with, so any such mischief would go about entirely undetected.

[Willsy]

*Ahem*

 

Mr Cameron?

 

 

And that's not even porn. You may aswell block the internet completely......*sigh*...ya frick....

[Tani Coyote]

The saddest part is I assume this won't even inconvenience a lot of people, thus preventing it from having any electoral impact.

I guess it ultimately all comes down to adult content consumption... if it's high, a lot of people will be displeased. The question is, will they hold it against Cameron? Lord knows a voting populace's memories can be pretty short on most issues.

[Badnik Mechanic]

The filter will be controlled by a Chinese company who have close ties to the Chinese Government.

 

Even if you opt out, your internet traffic will go through this company.

[Remy]

Well, I never thought it possible, but the UK managed to beat australia in the race for draconian internet censorship. Sucks ass, but bravo.

 

 

I've been panicking about the government taking porn away since I was like 18. Can't really believe they've done it over there, not sure what they're trying to achieve by all this- I don't think the 'save the children' thing really holds true, and censorship of any kind, sucks ass. Doing it during the whole royal baby affair just makes it stink worse.

 

At least there's an opt out. It'd be a slightly embarrassing phone call to get the porn back, but at least there's a choice >_>

[Stacy]

The filter will be controlled by a Chinese company who have close ties to the Chinese Government.

 

Even if you opt out, your internet traffic will go through this company.

 

Oh the irony! 

 

Trust the Tories to put it through a Chinese Company to cut corners. 

Edited July 26, 2013 by BW199148

[Milkman]

The filter will be controlled by a Chinese company who have close ties to the Chinese Government.

 

Even if you opt out, your internet traffic will go through this company.

So next to the US now China will know everything you do on the internet

[Xenn]

Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse

 

This is beyond dumb, how can this even work.