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The British government has, for several years, been trying to convince us all that pornography is terrible and that children's access to it could be one of the worst things imaginable. Its response has been to push for ISP filtering and there's been talk of forcing age gates on sites. But when that doesn't work (and it won't), what will it do? Some are suggesting it might apply the same block orders that have been levied against torrent sites.
The strategy to prevent children viewing porn has been a catastrophe from the start. Inspired by the heavily censored Chinese internet, porn filters have been found blocking everything from sexual education sites, to women's shelter homepages. EU legislation has made it invalid, leading to David Cameron having to seek a specialised opt-out for the UK, so now it's trying to forge age gates on sites.
That fails on account of either not being accurate by requiring no information from the user other than their claimed date of birth, or of being too intrusive and requiring too much information; something that site operators won't comply with for fear of losing traffic. The government can only force such measures on British companies anyway and considering how it's already made a mess of the British porn industry, that influence is far from expansive.
So what's the next step when Cameron and co. realise that they can't block porn sites that way? Ars thinks they'll start going down the court ordered blocking route, the same used to crack down on torrent sites. And we all know how well that's gone.
While this is good news for those that want to continue accessing porn – a majority of internet users – it does mean that the UK will continue to use heavier handed methods to try and make viewing it harder. That could mean using more draconian tactics that haven't even been considered yet.
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KitGuru Says: Porn is being painted as an enemy and it's just not. Anything that is consensual and legal to perform in the privacy of your own home, should not become illegal just because you turn a camera on.
What’s the point, no matter how far you go people will find a way around it. They’ve blocked the major torrent websites and many of their proxies yet all you need to do is google “pirate bay proxy” or “kickass proxy” and you have instant access. I can’t imagine it would be much different to this. Let’s be honest, teenagers don’t stumble across porn, they seek it out 99% of the time.
Exactly right. And what with VPNs and the Tor network, anything is accessible anyway.
Spot on. It takes about 2 minutes to figure out how to use a VPN for the first time. And information on how to access the “dark web” isn’t exactly hard to find.
It’s funny that turning that camera on actually makes things legal now 😉 otherwise paying someone for sex is prostitution.
This is one of the many reasons the Tories are trying to get out of the EU. They want to enforce retarded ideals on us that are incompatible with the EU, and the EU blocks it.
But you still get the UKippers and the rest of the idiot right that want out of the EU damning the thing into hell for even existing. No-one really realises the EU has blocked this government from going full-on nasty party more times than the Lib Dems did.
I love how they’re worried about blocking porn when they could be using all their time and effort on something else. ANYTHING else. But no…this is their priority. People like porn. Get the hell over it.
It’s not really about porn.
It’s about CONTROL.
We want to “CONTROL what you read and say”
so, I can murder someone if the cam is turned on?! SWEET!
I don’t follow the logic. Filming consensual sex after paying someone is not the same as filming murder. One is porn, the other is still murder. Although it is nice of you to provide the evidence for your conviction.
You do knot that actors in movies don’t actually die in real life, right?
*FACEDESK*
Hhahaha….agreed, its really about CONTROL