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Go away Cameron – Bypass UK's porn filter

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Re: Go away Cameron – Bypass UK's porn filter

#91
post #57
post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the cost and the possibility of prosecution for supplying illegal material are two obvious downsides to this - keep in mind that uk law makes bestiality porn highly illegal for instance, whereas it's legal or easily available in other parts of the world - and also something that people are sometimes curious about

This UK filter is explicitly not about blocking illegal material, but to block legal website which are deemed by the government as inappropriate for watching. Its an requirement put on ISP by the government, and covers porn, music videos, magazines and newspapers. For now, the focus seems to be on the first item, but the Bailey Review want much much more. Illegal material has been blocked since 2004 and onward by mos…

the problem i'm describing is that some sites are legal overseas but not here - if this proxy also bypasses cleanfeed there could be problems - well i imagine what would happen is that it'd get added to the list of banned urls

Re: Go away Cameron – Bypass UK's porn filter

#92
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nope, it's opt-out for new subscribers and existing subscribers have to choose to opt in or out. There are many reasons why someone would want to use this extension. Sexual abuse support sites are currently being blocked by the filters, so a child being abused by a family member could use the extension to find help on the internet, despite the abuser having the porn filter on. Or a chap who has been pressured into op…

Yeah, I'm aware its opt out for new customers, but its opt in for current customers. I would like to think that the reasons you gave are all mistakes with the blocker that would get ironed out over the coming weeks, especially more likely with the press attention it has got. Ulterior motives aside, if this saves even a handful of kids from growing up with porn addiction, its probably worth it, right?

It's not opt-in for existing customers. At some point they will be presented with a screen that forces them to make a choice.

If you think that all mistakes with the blocker will be ironed out, then you don't have any idea how large the internet is. This is a problem that is so ingrained with automated filters that it has its own name - the Scunthorpe Problem - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scunthorpe_problem It is an inevitable consequence of this sort of system. Innocent sites will continue to be blocked.

As for your other point - it's pure conjecture. Furthermore, it will not stop kids accessing porn. When I was a kid we used to swap dirty magazines. Now they will be swapping memory sticks. And those are the ones who don't take 2 minutes to go to google to search for a way to get around the filter. For all the other ones it's business as usual.

The whole thing is a farce, designed to appeal to the Daily Mail / Think of the Children subset of noise-makers, while completely burying any hope of a rational debate.

Re: Go away Cameron – Bypass UK's porn filter

#93
post #30

As much as this is a brilliant idea (opting out could possibly be recorded) I think the general consensus of the government right now needs to change, I seem to recall a hacker game from years ago (maybe 'Hacker Evolution') which described in it's prologue: "The world has been divided; governments censor and restrict access to the internet that was, hackers and technologists moved away from traditional means of commu…

This is pretty much what Peter Sunde was getting at with this talk I think [0].

I agree though, I ended up having an argument with my parents on this subject. My old man's been working with software for goodness knows how long and he still doesn't really see it, so I think maybe it's more that some people implicitly trust and support the status quo.

> and should I lose, I will simply leave this country and it's countrymen. the EU convention lists internet access as a human right.

This. I really believe that together we're stronger. For all its (many many) failings, the EU is just a political confluence in the same way as the internet at its best is a social confluence, and if the country of my birth lets me down then I'll move to the continent and leave the Little Englanders behind.

[0] http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2013-11/18/peter-sunde-h...

Re: Go away Cameron – Bypass UK's porn filter

#94
post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I reckon a large proportion of people will opt out HAH! I had a friend one day in tears because her bf had some porn on his laptop. She was shocked, outraged etc. She owned a dildo. Some people have horrific double standards, unless people make a stand against censorship (unlikely) or their desire for porn (even less likely). This is only going to get worse.

In what world is that a double standard??? Enjoying masturbation and sex toys while disapproving of pornography seems like a healthy and reasonable stance to take.

I initially assumed your comment was a joke of some kind - but I think you might actually be serious? Could you explain how it's reasonable?

Re: Go away Cameron – Bypass UK's porn filter

#95
post #59
post #2

Hah, this is weird. I created GAC, and submitted this a few hours ago, but got not much love. And now you have some :) Anyways, the server is having a serious hug of love. Things are slowed down now. Anyways, AMA!

@nubela: if this service can be used to bypass BBC content restrictions, you're going to have a bad time. A lot of BBC content can only be viewed within the UK, so if you can use GAC to access this content abroad, the following will happen: - they can contact nominet to get your personal data - you will likely get a letter from their lawyer - you may get your .co.uk domain taken away - you may be asked to hand over y…

It looks like it only works for blocked sites. I assume that BBC content restrictions wouldn't look like a blocked site to this.

Re: Go away Cameron – Bypass UK's porn filter

#96
post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do we incentivize people to fight back against every single law that could potentially harm privacy or force censorship? The people making these laws have every bit of incentive to do so, while the regular people have limited willpower, limited resources and limited time. Sure we can pull off another SOPA blackout, but I don't think we can do it consistently. They'll keep proposing harmful laws and we can't stop…

The solution is to make those that support these bill pay the price (as high as possible - in votes, revenue, public image,...) for it. One by one...

...Until we get tired or apathetic. Then we lose.

There are asymmetric levels of incentive here. Organizing large-scale political action against everyone in the first world who infringes on people's internet privacy rights is simply unsustainable.

You can't fight a problem that's essentially systemic by finding and painstakingly stamping out every instance of it happening. A systemic problem needs a systemic solution.

Re: Go away Cameron – Bypass UK's porn filter

#97
post #58
post #30

As much as this is a brilliant idea (opting out could possibly be recorded) I think the general consensus of the government right now needs to change, I seem to recall a hacker game from years ago (maybe 'Hacker Evolution') which described in it's prologue: "The world has been divided; governments censor and restrict access to the internet that was, hackers and technologists moved away from traditional means of commu…

> the EU convention lists internet access as a human right. They're not stopping you from accessing the internet, they're essentially just giving people access to filtering software.

They didn't have hosts files in the UK before?

Re: Go away Cameron – Bypass UK's porn filter

#99
post #66
post #30

As much as this is a brilliant idea (opting out could possibly be recorded) I think the general consensus of the government right now needs to change, I seem to recall a hacker game from years ago (maybe 'Hacker Evolution') which described in it's prologue: "The world has been divided; governments censor and restrict access to the internet that was, hackers and technologists moved away from traditional means of commu…

Censorship is an excellent demonstration of why network level blocking is a complete lost cause. You hardly need Tor, VPN, or a special browser when SSL is impossible to block in a non-destructive way. You can never effectively control what people do on their computer without controlling the computer itself. It would be much more effective to make blocking the responsibility of web browsers. This would allow settings…

Blocking via web browsers is definitely not going to work. It would require that every browser on each PC, phone, TV and other internet enabled device all activate the filters, all of them have a facility to activate/deactivate the filters, all of them don't allow other web browsers to be installed and don't allow booting from alternative sources. Most parents don't know how to do this. They do know how to tick a box when they are signing up for a broadband service. There are millions of devices already out there.

SSL-enabled sites can already be "blocked" in the UK, they block the entire domain and the IP.

Re: Go away Cameron – Bypass UK's porn filter

#100
post #34

I'm finding this a bit strange. As far as I am aware you have to opt-in to the porn blocker on existing packages. The chances are its already going to be off for most people, especially those who know how to use a chrome extension. I get the impression that this was created for other, more illegitimate purposes, that has nothing to do with "Cameron's porn blocker"

nope, it's opt out by default. existing customers get a choice page, but new customers will have to phone in.

or log into their ISPs account area and do it.
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