## Are Brits living in a Nanny State? UK Bans Internet Porn

Post by Jason Toddman » Tue Jul 23, 2013 7:38 am

News today includes the headlines that the British government is going to unilaterally filter porn out of the Internet in Britain sometime real soon.
I guess it's not just Americans that are developing Nanny State laws that decide moral issues for the public, but this is way beyond barring smoking in public facilities (which I support myself, as I hate smelling cigarette smoke) or banning super-sized soft drinks in NYC (which I think is totally ridiculous; who do these people hurt? Nobody!).
How do you British members feel about this new law? For further info:
http://news.yahoo.com/uk-plans-block-in ... 01906.html
What will constitute porn anyway? Who decides this, and what will be the criteria?
For instance, will Tieupgames.net be considered a porn site? Will our British members suddenly find their access to sites like this one blocked?!?
Dare to be different... and make a difference.
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### Re: Are Brits living in a Nanny State? UK Bans Internet Porn

Post by FelixSH » Tue Jul 23, 2013 9:14 am

It doesn´t seem too much of a problem. If I got that right the users have the choice to use the filter or not. As long as there is a choice the whole thing doesn´t seem to be that much of a problem.
That said, using the filter as a default is a dick move. Forcing your morality on other people through law (or whatever other method) is an awful and destructive thing. Yeah, porn shouldn´t be accessed by kids, but shielding them from this stuff lies in the responsibility of the parents, not the state.
When the internet came up, it seemed like this giant wonderland with infinite potential. In my naivety I would never have thought about the possibility that stuff from one country would be blocked in others. And it boggles my mind that there are people who want to castrate the internet with nonsense like country-wide filters and SOPA.

### Re: Are Brits living in a Nanny State? UK Bans Internet Porn

Post by xtc » Tue Jul 23, 2013 10:07 am

Yes, it's to be an "opt-in" system, apparently.
I think the official question will be, "Oi, Mate, you want porn on your computer?"
It's unenforceable; when working in a school where the local authority operated a strict filter, it was surprising what one of our students encountered when searching for "kittens".
Boxer shorts are cool,
but little speedos rule!
More by the same author: viewtopic.php?f=5&t=22729

### Re: Are Brits living in a Nanny State? UK Bans Internet Porn

Post by Fesselfan » Tue Jul 23, 2013 10:24 pm

Sadly, it seems to be a sign of these times that nanny state actions come more and more in fashion again, while liberality and freedom of expression is in decline. Live and let live is not fashionable anymore.
Some states take this to an extreme, though.
Cheers
FF
There are 10 kind of people in the world.
Those who understand binary numeral system, and those who don't.

### Re: Are Brits living in a Nanny State? UK Bans Internet Porn

Post by drawscore » Wed Jul 24, 2013 12:25 am

There has been some talk previously, about adding another suffix to URL's, which could be blocked easily by parents, or could come blocked on a new computer, and require a user interface to unblock them. We have .com and .net; .mil, .edu, etc. The new one would be .xxx.
It's an interesting proposal, which I think merits some thought. It would put the control of the computers in the hands of the parents/guardians, where it belongs, and not in the hands of an ever intrusive government.
Drawscore

### Re: Are Brits living in a Nanny State? UK Bans Internet Porn

Post by Fesselfan » Wed Jul 24, 2013 1:40 am

I highly doubt this has to do with muslims. Christian fundamentalists are often as much (or even more) frigid regarding to sexual stuff than any other person.
Cheers
FF
There are 10 kind of people in the world.
Those who understand binary numeral system, and those who don't.

### Re: Are Brits living in a Nanny State? UK Bans Internet Porn

Post by cloud » Wed Jul 24, 2013 3:10 am

I normally ignore all of the stuff that goes on in this section, but this is different.
It is basically the idea that they can stop us from accessing cirtian stuff, it happens occasionally with other sites (for example the FBI blocked MegaUpload) but a blanket filter like this will be bad. As stated in the news report you linked, their is also the question of how to clasfie what should and should not be blocked. When it comes down to this, will it be voted by comity, or will it possibly be a program used to filter stuff, I am not sure.
As mentuned by xtc that school internet comes through the local councle and is restricted at the concle. Well my school which I just left changed their provider to a private provider and implemented their own internet filter instead, which was a move in the right direction as the concle bans were very stupid most of the time.
The new filter school put into place did block web address but it also done a word filter, so if the webpage included x amount of this 1 banned word then it would be blocked instead. This system works good on paper, but in pradice is horrible, lets say your googling something.... some strange sites sometimes appear, and these could mean you cant see your results.
So then they are going to block it with an opt in system at first, changing it to opt out at the end of the year, well why not still make it a opt in at the end of the year... how hard is it to add a new option to the forms when you apply for internet saying 'do you want mature content blocked?' or something like that, allowing new people to not have to contact their ISP later to tell them to remove the filter. Either that, or possible a piece of free software could be given to the customer when they join, allowing them to set stuff that is blocked and stuff like that, set keywords maybe to be blocked, and most importantly be password protected and have some default settings to chose from. This way you put in place the protection yet you make it complacently opt in and editable.
And this, this works fine for the internet, is anything going to change about the sexual nature of a lot of TV shows that are shown in the UK? It is pointless only changing 1 media when you got stuff like James Bond or even a lot of TV adverts (for example perfume adverts) which shows sexual nature (but not the sex) which can be as damaging to young children.

> "[We are] making it a criminal offense to possess Internet pornography that depicts rape."

And now for the main one that might affect a lot of people in ways that they don't want. Lets say that a couple likes to do a little role play and stuff, but for their enjoyment they document it a bit or something, something that leaves a digital trace. Will this possibly get them into trouble if under the digression of the police they say it is rape. Or what if they brake up and one of them claims it was rape and their is pictures of it, this could get innocent people prosecuted for not doing anything wrong.
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First Fictional Story (chapters 0-18): Moved Closer by Bondage

### Re: Are Brits living in a Nanny State? UK Bans Internet Porn

Post by Tieup1 » Wed Jul 24, 2013 3:15 pm

Its another example of the nanny state, we know what is best for you, you must not see any porn.
I'm an adult, surely I must have a choice, as to want I want to see ?
Having said that, I do not, and never will visit sites which depict child porn of any kind.
I know there are some weirdos out there, they will gain access to porn whatever laws/rules are brought in.
From what I've read, they are trying to protect children from seeing pornograhic images.
Parents should have that responsibility, there are ways to block children from accessing sites, a password only the parent knows, for example.
If in any doubt, the parent should always be with the child, when they are using a computer.
Will they ban sexy mags from newsagents as well ?

### Re: Are Brits living in a Nanny State? UK Bans Internet Porn

Post by Games_Bond » Fri Jul 26, 2013 3:07 am

It seems that we are all very anti-Government on this issue, so for the sake of balance let me make, as I see it, the entire case for their defence:
Um...
Eh...
Searching every faculty of logic and reason..... No results found.
Anyway.
This is totally ridiculous. We need to protect the children - that's what PARENTS are for! You want to protect the children? Try increasing child benefit or, maybe, not cutting it when siblings have separate bedrooms! There are a hundred and one things the Government COULD do to protect children in this country (like making Catholic Priesthood a criminal offence) without interfering in private matters.
Oh but you can opt in... wait a minute, opt out.
Tell you what David Cameron, get your act together or us Scots might just opt out of Britain in one year's time!

### Re: Are Brits living in a Nanny State? UK Bans Internet Porn

Post by Jason Toddman » Fri Jul 26, 2013 5:59 am

> Games_Bond wrote:Tell you what David Cameron, get your act together or us Scots might just opt out of Britain in one year's time!

Isn't that something you Scots and the Irish have wanted do anyway for centuries?
Dare to be different... and make a difference.
To boldly go where no one in their right mind has gone before...

### Re: Are Brits living in a Nanny State? UK Bans Internet Porn

Post by james bound 1997 » Sat Jul 27, 2013 8:17 am

My advice is to download as much as possible before the law is made that what my friends ssay to do

### Re: Are Brits living in a Nanny State? UK Bans Internet Porn

Post by the other one » Sat Jul 27, 2013 1:40 pm

What would a law change? What would censorship change?
Those who accidentally visit those pages wouldn't reach them. No more no less. If somone wants it, then he'll find a backdoor. I suppose there is more background. What happens if somone has a dangerous webpage, where he publishes that a government makes abuse of power. Well this page will be forbidden without reason. And there needn't to be porn.
Porn is just a reason to censor the internet. And who believes, that really just porn gets censored, is just to naive.
“Collective fear stimulates herd instinct, and tends to produce ferocity toward those who are not regarded as members of the herd.”
Bertrand Russell

### Re: Are Brits living in a Nanny State? UK Bans Internet Porn

Post by hrrrumph » Tue Jul 30, 2013 11:18 pm

In my mind, the UK is a semi-nanny state (tries to enforce an authoritarian culture but doesn't do that great a job at it).
Also, if you download the TOR browser then you can easily get around this (if it even happens).
BONDAGE WORN AS CLOTHING

### Re: Are Brits living in a Nanny State? UK Bans Internet Porn

Post by putasockinit » Mon Aug 12, 2013 7:10 am

I hope this site isn't blocked as part of this. I love it on here. I don't really watch porn (except from a couple of bondage videos, which I don't really class as porn tbh), but I think it's ridiculous. At the end of the day it's not encouraging murders or anything is it? when you reach puberty, you here all these kids talking about all these techniques, surely there is no harm in showing them what it actually consists of.
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too...
And,which is more,you'll be a Man, my son!

### Re: Are Brits living in a Nanny State? UK Bans Internet Porn

Post by skybird137 » Fri Aug 16, 2013 7:12 am

The most ridiculous thing about the ISP filter system is that they they can be broken through with a VPN program on your computer.
Unless the government are planning to make the use of a free or monthly paid VPN program illegal, the whole idea is a complete waste of time. Plus VPN's are necessary if you are using any wifi system that you don't completely trust.
Calling Fifty Shades of Grey a Bondage Story is like calling Titanic an Iceberg Movie...
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