Prime Minister David Cameron has announced that “most households in the UK will have pornography blocked by their internet provider unless they choose to receive it.”
It doesn’t stop there, either:
“In addition, the prime minister said possessing online pornography depicting rape would become illegal in England and Wales – in line with Scotland.”
The Prime Minister also said that many “horrific” Internet search terms would be blacklisted.
The filters would not only effect your typical computer, but anyone using home Wi-Fi networks—including mobile devices. The new filter scheme will cover 95% of homes and also includes:
- New laws so videos streamed online in the UK will be subject to the same restrictions as those sold in shops.
- Search engines having until October to introduce further measures to block illegal content.
- Experts from the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre being given more powers to examine secretive file-sharing networks
- A secure database of banned child pornography images gathered by police across the country will be used to trace illegal content and the paedophiles viewing it.
A Safer Web
This will make the web in the UK much more family friendly. There are a few concerns, beyond the typical outcry of “free speech” and “Internet freedom”:
- Once this is in place, what will be blocked next?
- Could controversial issues surrounding religion creep its way into the ban?
- Also, will this put children at a greater risk, as parents won’t feel the need to monitor their children’s activities online?
Like most laws that place limits on activity, it can be taken to an extreme and be used to abuse the citizenry; but when it comes to limiting something as obscene as pornography and all the extremes that are tangled-up in that genre, I think the UK has made a good move in putting these safeguards in place.
What do you think?
Jeremy Sarber says
My initial impulse is to applaud the measure. Then, I wonder about the next step in banning content on the Web. I’m afraid there may never be a perfect solution.
Eric Dye says
My fear as well.
Ed Pastelak says
This is one area where I think banning content on the web is appropriate. The amount of damage porn does to families is astounding and with the money behind that industry you really almost need a big hammer like this to counter it.
Eric Dye says
This is true!
Jonathan Ober says
We all know that if the states did this there would be people crying about their rights to free speech. Granted it can be lifted so you can view this in your home. This is a great step in recognizing that porn really is a killer within the home. It lessens the marriage commitment. It hurts relationships and views we have of ourselves and our spouses and even kids. It really is and has the same affects on the brain as drugs and even ‘requires’ going deeper and further and more severe to set someone off. It’s a never ending pleasure sealing, self satisfaction method of destruction.
Having struggled or even still struggling myself I would love to have this blocked at the service provider level. It would make me think twice about the cycle and serverity of porn.
Eric Dye says
Thanks for sharing, man! 😀
James Cooper says
As the only Brit who seems to have commented on here, I’ve got some links people might find interesting! In principle, yes the idea is a very good one. However, this government (and the past few UK governments) have a TERRIBLE track record on all things internet…
How the ‘filter’ will actually work is very suspect! It looks like it will also block many educational sites en masse (including charities that deal with porn & drug addiction and companies like Covenant Eyes that produce excellent monitoring software) and it could even block sites like twitter and facebook! It also appears that it will be ridiculously easy to get around – so parents might think the internet is now ‘safe’ while little Johnny is in his room still viewing whatever he wants!
Cory Doctorow’s view: http://mostlysignssomeportents.tumblr.com/post/56144821252/uk-internet-censorship-plan-no-less-stupid-than-it-was
Jimmy Wales’ view: http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/aug/02/jimmy-wales-cameron-porn-filters
View of one of the leading tech journalists in the UK: http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/technology/micwright/100009396/david-cameron-cant-protect-us-from-child-porn-because-he-doesnt-understand-the-internet/
Views for a leading expert in media law: http://paulbernal.wordpress.com/2013/07/22/10-questions-about-camerons-new-porn-blocking/
There are quite a few Christian orgs in the UK that are actually AGAINST the legislation as it will brush things under the carpet and won’t actually address any of the real problems in society that cause the issues in the first place: http://www.crimperman.org/2012/02/29/why-internet-blocking-will-not-protect-our-children/
And browsers are already being created to get around it! http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-releases-pirate-browser-to-thwart-censorship-130810/
Like I said, in theory it’s a great idea – but how it’s currently being put into practise leaves an awful lot to be desired and it could actually cause way more problems (for ‘clean’ web users, parents and schools) that it really solves…
Eric Dye says
Indeed, these were some of the concerns I had. Thanks for sharing all these links, James! Certainly a lot to think about, here.
Raoul Snyman says
As a few guys have alluded to here already, this only actually spells bad news. Why? Because as soon as you have some sort of authority involved in declaring what is acceptable, our freedoms as citizens go out the window. Now a government which is immensely anti-Christian will start blocking Christian sites.
It’s just one step down the slippery slope of censorship, and the first thing on the Freedom From Religion’s agenda will be lobbying the government to block all Christian sites. All the abortionists will jump for joy because now they can block any anti-abortion web site. The list goes on.
As much as it sounds like a good idea when you mention blocking porn, the reality is that it opens the door to blocking much much more.
Here’s a humourous, but very real, look at censorship:
http://www.unshelved.com/2003-9-23
http://www.unshelved.com/2003-9-24
http://www.unshelved.com/2003-9-25
http://www.unshelved.com/2003-9-26
http://www.unshelved.com/2003-9-27
Eric Dye says
True, true (great links).