Freedom - Allow R18 on TV

Your help is needed. Do you want to see harder material on TV?

The Government has a Freedom website where it is inviting suggestions for laws that should be repealed. I have logged a request to allow R18-strength hardcore porn on encrypted TV channels, with suitable child protection measures.

Anyone can rate ideas from 1-5, and anyone can post a comment for or against the ideas: registration is simple, you can use a nickname and you don't even need to collect a validation email.

So far 38 people have rated the idea, giving an average score of 4.1. This is pretty good, but some other ideas have over 1,000 votes. If you were a politican wanting to get re-elected in 2012 what would you take notice of? Ideas that under 50 people vote for, or ones that excite 1,000+ voters? Exactly, the ideas with the most votes will get the most attention from the Government.

If you would like to see stronger material on late night encrypted TV then let the Government know by visiting the website and voting: R18 TV: Allow adults to see R18 porn on TV with safety controls

Here is the wording. I'm not calling for anything outragous or too controversial, just the same strength material on TV, behind encryption and late at night, as can already be purchased totally legally in a sex shop, or can be seen in top shelf magazines available in most newsagents.

I have tried to stress balance. Encryption and late night viewing will help maintain child protection. And as some people have pointed out, if it reduces the number of households with uncontrolled Euro-DVDs lying around and subscriptions to Euro-satellite channels that broadcast banned material during the day that can only improve child protection.

Also a vote for this does not stop people from voting for relaxed rules for Free To Air material.

Here's the wording, visit R18 TV: Allow adults to see R18 porn on TV with safety controls to vote for or against:

Quote:It is perfectly legal for adults in the UK to buy sexually explicit straight and gay DVDs and magazines. This is not to everyones taste and controls exist to stop people being offended by R18 films. This strength material is also easily available on the internet and mobile phones. Mediawatch UK, the ANTI porn campaign group estimates that 75% of adult males access internet porn, and that increasing numbers of women do. Clearly it is an important part of many peoples lives. Yet UK TV regulator Ofcom bans R18 explicit sex on TV, even late at night on clearly labelled lockable channels. This is a waste of Ofcom resources (they recently took 3 months to investigate a TV channel where the presenter was wearing the wrong colour knickers: Asian Babes,Bulletin 160). By banning this material Ofcom encourages people to access totally unregulated websites and foreign TV channels that permit acts not legal even in R18 films. By banning R18 explicit sex on TV Ofcom is contributing to marital tension and increasing the number of households that access material that could put children at risk. Since this material is totally legal in the UK if on DVD, in a magazine or on a UK website Ofcom is acting irrationally and against its own principles. Allow R18 strength explicit sex material on late night TV channels that can be locked out now.

Why the contribution is important
Consistency - This strength material is available legally on other media.

Waste - Ofcom must waste millions investigating this. There are few complaints (less than one a week), and many are believed to be from cometitors, not offended members of the public.

Consistency - stronger material used to be available on UK TV and caused no problems.

Mandate - Ofcoms own surveys show that the public are tolerant of this material. If they want anything it is reasonable measures to prevent accidental exposure. The public are more concerned with the casual sexualisation of daytime and evening TV (one of the most offensive TV shows in an Ofcom survey was a daytime chatshow hosted by Alan Titchmarsh featuring sex toys).

Marriage - some couples find that watching erotic material together strengthens their bond. In other marriages porn provides a useful safety value and helps marriage endure. This is only possible if it is easily available without embarrassment.

Final points before I stop replying to my own posts (I am trying to break this up into themes).

Several other good ideas have been posted on the Freedom website. There is no reason why a person cannot vote for more than one similar idea - it is not a first past the post competitive system. There is a simple search function. "R18" comes up with 5 interesting ideas, "porn" produces 22 matches, some good, some silly and some offensive. "Ofcom" gives 15 results, some from people who want to give it more power.

It's best to select Home before searching, otherwise the search only works on one sub-site: Restoring Civil Liberties or Repealing Unnecessary Laws or Cutting Regulation.

Votes for (or against) an idea count for more than comments. It might look a bit like a forum, but really it's about getting ideas and seeing how much support they have.

Don't be abusive - the moderator there will probably shut the suggestion down. Remember it is moderated by delicate flowers from the Civil Service more used to drinking tea than robust discussion.

Finally, get in quick. Other ideas have been closed supposedly they are duplicates or off-theme.

eccles Wrote:I have tried to stress balance. Encryption and late night viewing will help maintain child protection. And as some people have pointed out, if it reduces the number of households with uncontrolled Euro-DVDs lying around and subscriptions to Euro-satellite channels that broadcast banned material during the day that can only improve child protection.

Hang on a minute. Providing adequate protection, esp. to CHILDREN under 18, from illegal stuff on TV is OFCOM's MAIN JOB isn't it?

According to their Job Description (aka Comms Act 2003)

Quote:In creating their Code OFCOM are to:
319(2)(a) ensure the under eighteens are protected.
319(2)(f) ensure generally accpeted standards are applied to the content of radio and TV services to provide adequate protection to members of the public (like children under eighteen) from the inclusion in such services of offensive and harmful material.

As I've been saying for some considerable time (over 5 years), Ofcom are totally and utterly incompetent and clearly UNFIT to regulate anything.

Ofcom are simply too fucking stupid, evil or uncaring, and/or insane.

(edit)

Or, the stuff they HAVEN'T bothered to recommend for proscription is in fact SAFE for children to view and thus NOT 'illegal' as that person believes. Which, of course, PROVES OFCOM are evil, rights abusing bigots and Nazis.

Ofcom did proscribe ONE foreign satellite channel because it was deemed 'illegal'/offensive and harmful. We must therefore conclude ALL THE REST ARE LEGAL. And if they ARE ALLOWED to beam their signals into UK homes where children might see them then, OFCOM has NO GROUNDS whatsoever to ban LEGAL R18 on UK channels.

Here's what I had to say:

"Provided there are clear warnings given at the start of any R18 material there should be no reason why it shouldn't go ahead.

It's insane that on late night phone chat shows girls can't swear on microphones but can to their heart's content on the phones while those that don't phone in have to listen to keyboard demo music.

Nudity is also pointless if the girl can't move. Relaxation of any restrictions would be far better. To say that such shows should be restricted as to when they start on Freeview as they can be accidentally viewed by minors is also completely stupid as there are no such restrictions on Sky.

We, as adults, should be given the right to see what we please when we please and to make our own minds up as to what we can or can't see.

In this technological age, minors will always find ways of seeing adult material anyway. Concentrate on making it harder for them and leave the adults alone!"

Not bad!?

Ok,

Minor add later:

"I will add that encryption can be a good thing, provided that the material that we see once decrypted is worth encrypting in the first place.

If parental control is implemented it should be up to the parent when and how this is done and not be left to a faceless regulator to decide upon."

DO IT!

Minors and even little children can and will find MUCH worse material online, than anything we are asking to see on encrypted TV!

Like others have said, not only do we have over 18 warnings from the presenters, but we also have the watershed time, which is suppose to be there for a reason. If we can't even see a full frontal shot of a woman AFTER the watershed, then what is the point of it???

R18 should absolutely be allowed on encrypted TV, and the encryption will be plenty to protect anyone from accidentally accessing it. I just want to see a fully nude woman for once, and that in of itself shouldn't be classified as R18!!! When they censor a human body like that on an ADULT channel, they are basically telling us that a natural body part is something extreme, and inappropriate, when infact it's not! I don't see why that would be censored, even on NON encrypted TV, as it's simply not harmful. The women should also be allowed to do what they want with each other, be it on encrypted or not.

Can't they at least give us THAT?

Treat us like adults for once! We aren't asking for anything over the top or extreme. We just want a relaxing of the current nonsensical rules.

The other thing is that we get 'educational' shows on Channel 4 which feature full frontal nudity and genitalia which minors are encouraged to watch. They show erect penises! Seems silly they then get in a tizzy over showing what one is meant to do.

(30-07-2010 18:40 )Rogerbee Wrote:  The other thing is that we get 'educational' shows on Channel 4 which feature full frontal nudity and genitalia which minors are encouraged to watch. They show erect penises! Seems silly they then get in a tizzy over showing what one is meant to do.

Yeah but thats not fun, anti-"enjoyment" is at the heart of censorship. Organisations such as OFCOM (and their Dept masters thus far) really would prefer it if all the fun was taken out of sense and sensuality.

I can only imagine the stiffled giggling that comes from people on Lé Continent when they stumble across these debates in the UK media.