Porn Filters

Thank fuck for that, glad to see commonsense finally prevail. It's very easy to blame pornography for all the ill's of the country, almost like an easy scapegoat. We all know that the major issues need addressed such as unemployment, rising crime, poor policing of the streets aswell as so many being dependent on dangerous substances such as drug abuse. Time to fix societys problems and censorship is not and has never been the answer.

Besides as which has already been highlighted. Leave the parents/guardians to educate the kids and the government to run the country. When this gets compromised then it makes the UK no better than repressive countrys such as China and North Korea. Democracy is built on freedom, freedom of choice. Hopefully now this idea of porn filters with regards to the internet is truly well and put to bed.

Time now to address the issues of ofcom censorship with regards to what we view to watch on the telly in our leisure time. Is 2013 I wonder the year when all the barriers come down.

(16-12-2012 14:35 )Scottishbloke Wrote:  Besides as which has already been highlighted. Leave the parents/guardians to educate the kids and the government to run the country. When this gets compromised then it makes the UK no better than repressive countrys such as China and North Korea. Democracy is built on freedom, freedom of choice. Hopefully now this idea of porn filters with regards to the internet is truly well and put to bed.

Thats a bit of an over reaction in my opinion.

Just to add, its unfair to try and compare the UK to the worst dictatorship in the world, which is North Korea.

If I have taken your comment out of context then I apologize.

(16-12-2012 14:46 )dan g 27 Wrote:  

(16-12-2012 14:35 )Scottishbloke Wrote:  Besides as which has already been highlighted. Leave the parents/guardians to educate the kids and the government to run the country. When this gets compromised then it makes the UK no better than repressive countrys such as China and North Korea. Democracy is built on freedom, freedom of choice. Hopefully now this idea of porn filters with regards to the internet is truly well and put to bed.

Thats a bit of an over reaction in my opinion.

Not really an over-reaction.
Look at the list of countries that censor internet access : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_ce...by_country

I think that list is a bit old now, but even so, you get the general picture that countries blocking net access are primarily those with repressive governments. The likes of China, North Korea and Iran are the most active at this.
Australia operates a similar block for extreme hardcore porn (things like violent pornography).

Think also of this countries background. Things like super injunctions being used to hide details of extra-marital affairs, something they weren't really intended for, and councils using information gathering/sharing laws intended to help track terrorist suspects, to pursue people with parking fines or making council tax claims etc.
We already have sites like newsbin and Pirate bay being blocked, if we had this legislation, how long would it be before it got 'extended' to cover other sites the government decided we needed 'protecting' from.

We also have one of the most dense coverages of cctv cameras in the world, within town/city centres, and most public buildings/shops virtually our every step is watched and monitored, all in the name of 'protecting' us (yet strangely, when major crimes are committed, there is often no decent cctv footage to help catch the villains!).

Within my lifetime, things like homosexuality have been illegal in this country, and for example, bookshops were raided and people arrested for selling books, classic works of literature, which involved homosexual characters. It concerns me that legislation like this could be the first step towards this kind of wider censorship of anything our 'representatives' decided may be against our wider interests.

Our society is becoming increasingly pervasive in our lives, all under the guise of 'protecting' us and/or our children from terrorists, child pornographers or whatever.
There comes a time when it has to stop, when we have to start taking responsibility for our own actions, and for the protection of our own children, and when we have to defend our freedoms. All too often this kind of legislation becomes a back-door to a bunch of things that it was never intended to cover, or that were kept quiet about when it was being passed, and by the time we realise, it's too late.

I can't help but remember the words of Pastor Niemöller, regarding the way german intellectuals kept quiet as the nazis rose to power in Germany (much as I hate bringing the nazis into a discussion, this is not really about them, its about the poem, which fits very well with this situation) :

Quote:First they came for the communists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist.

Then they came for the socialists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the jews,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for the catholics,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a catholic.

Then they came for me,
and there was no one left to speak for me.

Today they try to block the Pirate Bay, and Ryan Giggs bedroom activities, and pornography, what will they be blocking next, and will we even know and be allowed to discuss it or organise against it!

^ Fair enough Munch, you made some valid points above.

A load of bollocks on the BBC site today

(17-12-2012 11:32 )TheWatcher Wrote:  A load of bollocks on the BBC site today

I agree. If I was President then I would ban Facebook and make Twitter a capital offence. (After I had given myself universal powers of course)

At first I thought Mumsnet was opposing porn filters, but no, they are against parental responsibility. And out of touch. All major phone companies have signed up to a "voluntary" scheme which blocks adult sites on phones unless the owner provides one-off proof of age.

This site for example is blocked.

There might be ways round it, but that's not the same as giving a kid unlimited access to porn sites. As for bullying and trolling on Facebook, no porn filter would stop that.

Which leaves the issue of kids having computers in their bedrooms. If the kid is young enough for the parent to be bothered put the computer in the living room. Where parents can see if they are getting their dick, fanny or tits out for the webcam, and can see if they are getting really furtive.

They need to do their homework in peace away from X-Factor? Fine, turn the router off.

Its not difficult.

And while at it, secure the vodka, fags, car keys, cash and credit card.

"Online porn: The fight must go on" screamed the headline on todays Daily Mail. I agree, but probably for different reasons.

I found this on the Daily Mail.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...cally.html

(20-12-2012 00:13 )dan g 27 Wrote:  I found this on the Daily Mail.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...cally.html

To illustrate the tide of filth that children are faced with the Daily Mail website helpfully showed Miley Cyrus grabbing a strippers arse in the sidebar of shame. The stripper is wearing a thong but you need good eyesight to see it. I had to stare at it for ages to check. (Larger picture if you follow the link.)

That article is very confusing, on the one hand it appears to contradict what was said last week, but when you dig deeper, it really seems to be saying much the same thing!

There is some basic incompetence within this stuff as well :

Quote:Mr Cameron says that when people switch on a new computer, they will be asked if there are children in the house – and if they answer yes, they will be automatically prompted to tailor internet filters.

Right, so that happens when a PC is switched on, so that must mean software installed on the PC, so what has that got to do with ISP's?

Presumably what he really means is that this will come up when people sign-up to a new ISP account, which is something very different to switching on a PC.

If they can't get such basic explanations right it really doesn't bode well for the new system!