Britain to Block "Porn" by Default

[Duncan Edwards]

Yes this is political but it directly impacts British users of this board and the producers of content.

Online pornography to be blocked by default, PM to announce

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-23401076

There are additional proposed restrictions regarding streaming of "porn" criminalizing the portrayal of "rape". This sounds like a technological and regulatory nightmare to me.

Other measures expected to be announced by the prime minister include:

New laws so videos streamed online in the UK will be subject to the same restrictions as those sold in shops

Search engines will be given until October to introduce further measures to block illegal content. They have a "moral duty" to block illegal content, Mr Cameron will say

He will also call for warning pages to pop up with helpline numbers when people try to search for illegal content

Experts from the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre will be given more powers to examine secretive file-sharing networks

A secure database of banned child porn images gathered by police across the country will be used to trace illegal content and the paedophiles viewing it


Any of our friends across the pond have anything to offer about it?

[leicsmac]

The ISP's are not ready to play ball on this, so I reckon there will be years of legal wrangling before this would be implemented.

Hopefully it will drag through to 2015 when there will be a new Government anyway (can't see this one holding onto power) and the whole thing will be quietly dropped. Putting restrictions on the more depraved kinds of porn is all well and good, but having non-consensual censorship in this way sets a very dangerous precedent.

[quagmire_uk]

Thankfully I've never been into any sort of porn that was at all rape-like so at least that one shouldn't affect me.

I guess if my internet service provider contacts me to ask whether I want to activate "family-friendly filters" to restrict adult material, my answer will simply be no. Don't have to admit to being into porn: there's no need for a family-friendly filter, simply because there are no children here.

I actually think it's not a bad idea - most ISPs give users the option of using some free family-protection software, but since adults in a home are often less internet-savvy than the kids, it makes sense that those protection measures are turned on by default and the adults have to decide to turn them off, rather than the other way around.

Of course the risk is that "not choosing to block porn" will become interpreted as "likes to watch porn" and this will get interpreted as "is some sort of deviant or person to watch out for".

[Duncan Edwards]

Thankfully I've never been into any sort of porn that was at all rape-like so at least that one shouldn't affect me.

I guess if my internet service provider contacts me to ask whether I want to activate "family-friendly filters" to restrict adult material, my answer will simply be no. Don't have to admit to being into porn: there's no need for a family-friendly filter, simply because there are no children here.

I actually think it's not a bad idea - most ISPs give users the option of using some free family-protection software, but since adults in a home are often less internet-savvy than the kids, it makes sense that those protection measures are turned on by default and the adults have to decide to turn them off, rather than the other way around.

Of course the risk is that "not choosing to block porn" will become interpreted as "likes to watch porn" and this will get interpreted as "is some sort of deviant or person to watch out for".

Friend, I don't believe you are paying close attention to what your government is going to do to you. You will not be asked if you want to block it, it will be blocked by default. The head of each household will have to ask to have the block removed on each computer. It will not be limited to "rape" porn but special attention will be paid to that to make it illegal. ALL porn will be blocked and streaming video will be subjected to the same guidelines as if you buy it in a local store. What happens if you try to buy a download from one of our producers? Who decides what is "porn"? This very board could be blocked to all the UK by default. How is this going to be enforced? Where do they draw the line?

Do you feel as if the "nanny state" has gone too far?

[Aiko]

And so it seems the Paedofinder General strikes again: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCywGhHQMEw

[PM2K]

It doesn't surprise me.... considering the spate of scandals which have occurred recently in England, the govt. has to appear to do something, and so they take a sledgehammer to kill a fly.

Similar crap was tried here in Canada last year... our laws Are based closely on a foundation of British law.... The govt. wanted to enact an internet bill which would give the police wider access to the public's phones and computers. This so-called “lawful access” legislation meant Internet service providers and cellphone companies must hand over basic subscriber information of customers to law enforcement agencies on request. Supposedly, this was to be used to crack down on child pornography - a worthwhile goal - but folks were worried this new law was too wide reaching.

All criticism of the law was met with a "you are either with us, of the child pornographers" a direct quote from our then Justice Minister, which kind of silenced rational debate on it. What it did do, fortunately, was spark such a wide spread public and business backlash against the law that it has been shelved.

Now, the bill at its worse didn't automatically block access to everything like this British one seems to be, but it was certainly a step towards that. Frankly, does anyone really want some govt. mook to pour over what we chat and get online about and have them determine if it is appropriate or not? This seems to be the way it was going.... We've had issues like that already for years from Canada Customs, which goes through adult materials and will seize them if the agents decide, by themselves, it isn't appropriate for import. I've lost some work that way, ordering erotic literature from the U.S. and losing half the shipment.... BTW, all of what I ordered is legal in the US, and is legal here in Canada, but strangely, when it is imported it can be seized with little recourse. Customs works in its own universe, it seems... An adult sex shop in Vancouver has been fighting them in court for years because they keep seizing same-sex material, none of which is illegal to possess or produce.

Having said that, considering the nature of some of the fetishes out there, ours is harmless, but again, who wants to give the power to some customs agent to decide that? I fear once the govt. figures out a way to regulate The Net without causing a rebellion, we may indeed see that day occur.

[Lomax]

Online pornography to be blocked by default, PM to announce

Nope. Politicians are TALKING about this, but they talk about a lot of things. I rather doubt they can come up with a workable law. Or an effective/enforceable one. This is distraction politics. Find something to talk about to take our minds off more important (but intractable) problems.

Attempts at censoring the net yield farcical results. "Banned" sites have included an educational one listing homophones, an ornithological one (because it discussed blue tits) - and people who live in the fairly ordinary town of Scunthorpe are prone to having their applications for various things rejected by software that thinks they're trying to smuggle in a rude word.

[Duncan Edwards]

But it's important because we need to protect the children. Don't you know if we can save just one child by taking your rights away it makes doing so ok? Don't you care about the children?
Now you know what I've had to listen to from the fucking anti gun assholes for the last 6 months.

Dude, point taken. Now lets play nice.

It is worth pointing out though what can happen when your freedom of speech and expression are not expressly guaranteed in your nation's constitution. Not unlike another aforementioned right.

[hiimawesome]

Just a random point, but it seems a lotta porn sites tend to hide the jailbaits in the mix. If you viewed one of these, and they were minor without your knowledge, am I going to be sent to prison

I know its extreme, but I feel like these kinda questions will pop up.
No that was not a pun.

[Mynock]

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