Mass Internet censorship to go live in the UK

[Chaos Warp]

Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse

 

This is beyond dumb, how can this even work.

Oh for fucks sake. OH GOD WE MUST PROTECT THE CHILDREN How 'bout the governments not be responsible for parenting kids in this regard!

Edited July 28, 2013 by Chaos Warp

[PSI Wind]

So, who's gonna take over TSS/SSMB after Dread gets hit by this thing? Message boards are one of the options :V

I know he can opt out, but really, all websites have something with those things in them.

[Blacklightning]

web forums

are you fucking serious

I don't understand why people are still posrepping this post

Edited August 1, 2013 by Blacklightning

[PSI Wind]

are you fucking serious

the children, mang

the children

[Debug Ring]

Wait. It's blocking Web Forums? Heaven forbid the children have have general discussion online. That would make them horrid people!

 

Also, Smoking and Alcohol? What does that mean? As in sites that distribute/make them, or sites that have factual information on them? If it's the latter, it's bloody stupid, as, what if the child has Biology homework on the effects of such things? The internet is probably the first place they look, and the first place they fins the information... I guess they probably won't block the factual sites, but if they do, then that's just beyond idiotic...

[Lady Soniko]

Protect the Children.

 

It's all about the children.

 

Is it fuck Cameron, you aren't fooling anyone, you're playing with fire, fuck it, You're playing with a forest blaze that you can't even hope to control once you start it.

[AxelPrime]

Why is the reasoning behind this is for the children?, shouldn't the Parents be monitoring on what they see on the internet?, I mean,  I remember when I was about 12 years old and I got scolded by my parents for watching a Red Band trailer on the internet because I was too young to see it. 

[Solkia]

Why is the reasoning behind this is for the children?, shouldn't the Parents be monitoring on what they see on the internet?, I mean,  I remember when I was about 12 years old and I got scolded by my parents for watching a Red Band trailer on the internet because I was too young to see it. 

 

Between "You're all shitty parents and your children are going to get messed up because of it" and "Censor the internet for the children",  I think the latter is a less risky political move.

 

Not that it's any of their goddamn business to begin with, but still.

[Semi-colon e]

Is it really for the children though, or is that just a front to make them look like they're doing something? I think most of us know. Fucking Cameron.

 

It would make me sad if message forums and stuff were blocked. I've learnt so much from them over the past 7 years.

Edited July 28, 2013 by Semi-colon e

[Turbo the Punk]

For fucks sake people, can't we just go back to magazines? So much confidential.

 

Now in all seriousness, to argue that this is in the interest of the UK's youth is complete bullshit. If all this objectionable content was easily accessible in years prior to the internet becoming mainstream and is still accessible today without the use of internet, what makes anyone with half a brain think that this action is productive? Right, no one unless they themselves were a product of outright censorship throughout their lives or they're just fucking insane, possibly both. The reality is that there is much more to this than what's presented at the surface. Continuing below.

 

As many have pointed out this is more than anything else a front for outright government censorship. Cameron, as righteous as he claims to be, couldn't really give a damn about "the children". I see that many are noting that the categories for censorship are to a large extent very vauge. That wasn't incidental by any means. Those terms were made to be vauge so that it could be at someone elses discretion to block or censor anything that even had anything to do with the aforementioned topic, it really could have been the most miniscule thing that somehow managed to trigger a censor. The thing is that if you opted in you really can do a damn thing about it according to this.

 

What's really a shame is that many are going to choose to opt in, and I'm sure many after doing so will be in dis contempt at their decision, and while noting that anyone who opted in can opt out at any future time, I doubt it's as seemless as it's being potrayed.

 

In addition if the UK deems this to be as "successful" as they had envisioned it's quite a possibility that this will go on to influence other devoloped nations, The Commonwealth of Australia and The United States stick out in my mind. It's really a disheartning situation.

[Patticus]

Is there any chance that the next non-Tory government will repeal this shit outright, or that, before that can happen, people will riot en masse over this blatant censorship and force the government to ease up?

[SuperLink]

There's no way the UK public will take this sitting, I can almost guarantee that. People won't realise how huge it is until it hits, and when it hits, people won't be happy.

 

But, for web forums and stuff, you can still "opt-in" right?

[Vertekins]

If there's one possibly good thing that'll come from this, it's that anyone who remotely has any sense will out this compulsively lying, wrongly-prioritized fucking idiot and his cronies who are polluting our government and country with their bullshittery.

[SuperLink]

If there's one possibly good thing that'll come from this, it's that anyone who remotely has any sense will out this compulsively lying, wrongly-prioritized fucking idiot and his cronies who are polluting our government and country with their bullshittery.

Unfortunately people aren't that smart, they'll fantasise the Tories tried to prevent this and this was really the LibDems' plot all along.

 

This coalition is awful for everyone because anyone without a proper understanding of how the government works (almost everyone in the kingdom) will simply convince themselves that the bad stuff that happened was the fault of their own perceived "bad half" of the coalition. It's fool proof, they can get away with absolutely anything.

 

Maybe Labour will benefit from being the perceived lesser of evils (which may be true, they're hardly amazing either), but unless they get a strong and modern public face like Cameron had, people will probably just flock to Cameron even after all his bullshit.

[Patticus]

I'd just like to say that, id this ban does adversely affect access to web forums and things of that nature, civil rights groups like Liberty will certainly mount strong legal challenges to the law/bill. Anything in it that infringes the right to free speech will be challenged.

 

Honestly, it's at times like these that I wish the UK had a proper constitution. It's only a matter of time before either it gets one, or it falls foul of the perils of not having one, i.e. tyranny (dressed up as saving the children and whatnot).

[Death the Kid]

I'm just gonna start out by saying that this is just plain overkill.  I mean, I can understand how you might not want little kids to accidentally stumble upon porn and other graphical content that might be considered a little too mind-blowing for them. but seriously. Censor web forums when god knows how many don't even cover this subject?  How stupid can you possibly get?

 

Next thing you know they're gonna block off Skype..feel sorry for you UK peeps

[JezMM]

If its of any consolation, at least including completely inoffensive stuff like forums gives them teenageys an excuse to tell their parents not to take their porn, I mean... web forums... yes... away.

[RK64]

So this censorship thing really happing? I would have thought that the UK community would be in an uproar like the US and other places were about SOPA and have so much hate for it, it would be stupid for the government to go through with it.  When this goes into effect, people will not only be fuming over this, but a lot of hate/mistrust will be aimed at the UK governments that signed off from this.  I understand the "right" reason they wanted this; to protect underage children from finding messed up stuff online. But, that's not the real reason this is happing, its because the government wants to control the internet like they control everything else, the same reason they wanted SOPA to pass. 

 

Lets hope the UK community will be up in arms over this and this "act" will be gone swiftly.

[Tani Coyote]

The good news is things like this come up in Congress from time to time. SOPA, amnesty for illegal immigrants, the works. They quickly get shot down due to the rancor.

Presumably MPs are no different than Senators and Congressmen; they like to try and pass a measure to serve their special interests but quickly and quietly withdraw it when there's enough harsh opposition.

So I won't be surprised if this doesn't stand for long.

Honestly, it's at times like these that I wish the UK had a proper constitution. It's only a matter of time before either it gets one, or it falls foul of the perils of not having one, i.e. tyranny (dressed up as saving the children and whatnot).

Indeed. A clear set of rights no legislature can overturn and protected by a fully independent judiciary is a fine idea.

Having one branch of government works fine... until its members begin to collude. While the UK has a Supreme Court, it is ultimately at the mercy of Parliament and readily disposed of. Nothing short of an election can check the power of Parliament.

The good news is the UK's people value their rights to such a degree that the informal Constitution isn't shat upon normally (whereas practically every other Parliamentary nation has handed the keys to a tyrant at some point or another, the UK has a clearly strong democratic tradition).

[Lady Soniko]

I bet you people are agreeing to this blindly without realizing the full story, they've been tainted with "a porn free web!" but they probably know fuck all about Cameron's real plan to control us with pretty much everything digitally, and I don't fucking like it, he's playing with fire like I said, he has no idea the can of worms that he has opened by even breathing about this censorship.

[Tani Coyote]

I bet you people are agreeing to this blindly without realizing the full story, they've been tainted with "a porn free web!" but they probably know fuck all about Cameron's real plan to control us with pretty much everything digitally, and I don't fucking like it, he's playing with fire like I said, he has no idea the can of worms that he has opened by even breathing about this censorship.

Who does "you people" refer to?

From what I can see pretty much everyone is grasping this goes far beyond porn and is actually an attempt by the government to establish a de facto on all things digital. Half the population probably won't even notice the censorship, leading to a mass curtailing of information...

And if the Tories are anything like the GOP over here, less information = less informed voters = more Tory votes.

[Yoko/葉子]

I may not live over there, but either A, this Cameron fellow (I'm not up to date with politics) is manipulating people's pornophobia so he can censor media and take away the UK's individuality or B, he believes so many stereotypes about mature content that he has lost reasoning.

[Lady Soniko]

Who does "you people" refer to?

From what I can see pretty much everyone is grasping this goes far beyond porn and is actually an attempt by the government to establish a de facto on all things digital. Half the population probably won't even notice the censorship, leading to a mass curtailing of information...

And if the Tories are anything like the GOP over here, less information = less informed voters = more Tory votes.

 

not referring to anyone, I forgot to put a coma between You and "people" you know, " I bet you, People are agreeing to this blindly"

[Autosaver]

So basically, they just censored the entire internet?

 

Btw UK people, sign this if you want to show your voice.

https://submissions.epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/51746

[Chaos Warp]

So basically, they just censored the entire internet?

 

Btw UK people, sign this if you want to show your voice.

https://submissions.epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/51746

Even if one is not from the UK, one could sign this just to show that you don't support internet censorship and control. Which is what I'm doing.