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UK official involved in national porn filter arrested for child porn

arstechnica.com

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Re: UK official involved in national porn filter arrested for child porn

#11

Post by chrisdevereux »

The most interesting thing about this to me is that shortly after the advisor was arrested, the rightwing Daily Mail started a smear campaign against senior members of the opposition, effectively accusing them of having supported paedophilia in the 1970s[1].

It dominated UK headlines for about a week, until the Ukraine crisis, at which point the (much more serious and concrete) allegations against the government advisor are revealed.

Nice work.

[1]: http://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2014/feb/20/dail...

Re: UK official involved in national porn filter arrested for child porn

#12

Post by corin_ »

clarry wrote: post #7

I still find it incredible that merely possessing some files is enough to get you arrested and possibly end your career. Weirder still, it seems to be ok to have just about all other sorts of horrific photos depicting, say, brutal violence..

I could be wrong, but I think there's far less of a market for producing photos of brutal violence than there is for producing photos of illegal pornography - the law is really about trying to kill the market, rather than it actually mattering that they are looking at the photos (really the only reason to punish people for looking at them is that by stopping these people you can help take away the incentive for people to produce them in the first place).

Edit: In response to tomp's comment about how cartoon images can be illegal... yeah, I don't understand that. Maybe there's scientific evidence that paedophiles who look at cartoon images are more likely to become sex offenders than those who avoid all pornography? Even then, not sure it's the right approach... but who knows.

Re: UK official involved in national porn filter arrested for child porn

#14

Post by timw6n »

Even more worrying is the fact that it appears that he was tipped off about the police investigation by senior Downing Street figures.

He resigned from his post at the policy office several hours before the NCA came to arrest him at his flat, which meant that he could potentially have had the opportunity to destroy evidence.

Re: UK official involved in national porn filter arrested for child porn

#15

Post by sailfast »

I imagine it would be somewhat trivial to entrap / SWAT somebody with this kind of imagery and then make an anonymous phone call, right? The tendency to rush to judgment on these issues is what makes those kinds of tactics much more powerful.

Not saying that is the case here, but it's something I try to keep in mind whenever headlines like this hit the news. It is rare that we ever see the follow-up verdict / judgment reach the same level of visibility.

Re: UK official involved in national porn filter arrested for child porn

#16

Post by christoph »

zimpenfish wrote: post #2

I wish I could be surprised by the ongoing hypocrisy of our UK politicians but ...

It's hilarious just how badly you can pick them...

Immigration minister resigns after hiring illegal immigrant cleaner http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/conservative/106261...

Communications director resigns after phone hacking scandal http://www.theguardian.com/media/2011/jan/21/andy-coulson-re...

Re: UK official involved in national porn filter arrested for child porn

#17

Post by tomp »

clarry wrote: post #7

I still find it incredible that merely possessing some files is enough to get you arrested and possibly end your career. Weirder still, it seems to be ok to have just about all other sorts of horrific photos depicting, say, brutal violence..

What's worse, it doesn't actually need to be child pornography. Even computer-generated/digitally modified images/videos where actors resemble children, and even drawings that can be interpreted as children having sex, are illegal!

Re: UK official involved in national porn filter arrested for child porn

#18

Post by tomp »

sandwell wrote: post #13

In a double dose of irony it was the Daily Mail who originally broke the story, the very same paper who are being petitioned to stop posting pictures that sexualise under age girls. https://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/daily-mail-mailonline...

Why is that irony?

Re: UK official involved in national porn filter arrested for child porn

#20

Post by astrodust »

tomp wrote: post #17
clarry wrote: post #7

I still find it incredible that merely possessing some files is enough to get you arrested and possibly end your career. Weirder still, it seems to be ok to have just about all other sorts of horrific photos depicting, say, brutal violence..

What's worse, it doesn't actually need to be child pornography. Even computer-generated/digitally modified images/videos where actors resemble children, and even drawings that can be interpreted as children having sex, are illegal!

There need to be prohibitions that don't discriminate on the basis of age. If someone's being abused, against their will, that's the same thing. It doesn't matter if they've crossed the magical line where they're an adult.

If you're going to make a stand, at least make a principled one ("We're trying to prevent abuse") and not one on emotional basis ("Think of the children!")

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