Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

UK Government proposes porn-viewing ID

boingboing.net

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

81–90 of 232 posts

Re: UK Government proposes porn-viewing ID

#81

Post by Kenji »

pmlnr wrote: post #42

> "all the porn sites operating in Britain" So... only .co.uk, or full 3/4 of the internet, including Tumblr? This is, of course, is a question for what counts as "operating in Britain". A site that is running on servers in Britain? A site that is owned by a British company? A site that happens to be available on the greater internet? Gosh, countries and borders became relics when the internet got spread wide enough.

It doesn't matter which sites are targeted. What worries me is the authoritarian mindset. That the state becomes the nanny of all the people. That responsibility for oneself and one's children is no longer the norm, but discouraged and deferred to the state. And the justification for these forceful invasions into our lives is relentless moralizing akin to that of extremist religious people. That is the conclusion I draw from this.

Re: UK Government proposes porn-viewing ID

#82

Post by joosters »

vertex-four wrote: post #18
mobiuscog wrote: post #2

Something has to be done. It's not just about porn or violence of NSFL etc... but there is a serious problem on the internet, that is always lambasted with the "Won't somebody think of the children" memes. When society has reached a point that anybody with internet access can, simply by 'accidentally' going to the wrong website, be exposed to imagery that really is not going to help them be well-adjusted in life, wit…

The thing is, if you want to prevent your children from accessing sites you'd prefer them not to without accompanying them in the future... there's been commercial solutions to that almost since the first porn site existed. Net Nanny's been around almost as long as I've been alive. Combine that with ensuring that your child's computer is in a public place, not their bedroom. Frankly, if people are going to be exposed…

Combine that with ensuring that your child's computer is in a public place, not their bedroom.

Not really practical advice in an era of tablets and mobiles.

Re: UK Government proposes porn-viewing ID

#83

Post by Shanea93 »

cyberpunk wrote: post #47
tachion wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem you're describing is exactly what we need to solve, instead of introducing another censorship/citizen tracking measure. Kids should be learning about their own sexuality, about these urges, how to handle them, how to not handle them. The main reason they're reaching out to that is the obvious, unescapable growth phase AND complete lack of support from parents, teachers and society in general. On one hand…

We're in kind of uncharted territory here though -- for anyone under, what, 25? There has been an almost unlimited amount of instant gratification/indulgence a click or a swipe away that's ALWAYS been there for them. We've never really had to think about what kind of problems this sort of thing produces before. We didn't have that option when we were in puberty or the following over-hormonal years following... Hopefu…

In an age before the internet was widely available in the home I would just stay up late, which was 11pm back in those days, and watch the "ten minute freeview" on "television X" where there was about a 33% chance that you might spy a woman's lady bits for about 5 seconds.

Realistically, kids will circumvent almost anything you put in place if they're interested enough in what they're trying to achieve.

Re: UK Government proposes porn-viewing ID

#84

Post by mobiuscog »

Kenji wrote: post #76
mobiuscog wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Shouldn't a government, govern ? If so, what is their remit, and if not, what's the answer... anarchy ? For reference, 18 is the legal 'adult' age in the UK, hence the age in this proposal.

>Shouldn't a government, govern? With this argument, I could argue for any fascist dictatorship I want. A government should serve its people, first and foremost. Remember, a law always has to be kept with the threat of force, or actual force if it is broken. This is a classic example of a regulation that cuts deeply into personal freedom and causes much more harm than good. Ironically, the burden of proof is now sudd…

I assume you voted them into government. Or your society did.

Re: UK Government proposes porn-viewing ID

#85

Post by vertex-four »

joosters wrote: post #82
vertex-four wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thing is, if you want to prevent your children from accessing sites you'd prefer them not to without accompanying them in the future... there's been commercial solutions to that almost since the first porn site existed. Net Nanny's been around almost as long as I've been alive. Combine that with ensuring that your child's computer is in a public place, not their bedroom. Frankly, if people are going to be exposed…

Combine that with ensuring that your child's computer is in a public place, not their bedroom. Not really practical advice in an era of tablets and mobiles.

Very practical - don't give your <12yo child a tablet or smartphone. They're not necessary parts of human existence, and certainly not of a child's existence.

Re: UK Government proposes porn-viewing ID

#86

Post by Shanea93 »

adrianratnapala wrote: post #61
mobiuscog wrote: post #2

Something has to be done. It's not just about porn or violence of NSFL etc... but there is a serious problem on the internet, that is always lambasted with the "Won't somebody think of the children" memes. When society has reached a point that anybody with internet access can, simply by 'accidentally' going to the wrong website, be exposed to imagery that really is not going to help them be well-adjusted in life, wit…

Here is a simple solutions: porn sites use a .xxx domain or some such, and browsers can trivially be configured to block that domain. I'd be fine with government enforcing such a rule. But years and years after we started talking about such a solution, we don't have it, but instead have intrusive privacy distroying solutions that don't see to even address the problem.

This would require international coordination of laws in many different territories.

What if I just type in "31.192.120.36", the current public IP of www.pornhub.com?

Re: UK Government proposes porn-viewing ID

#87

Post by mobiuscog »

darklajid wrote: post #77
mobiuscog wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Shouldn't a government, govern ? If so, what is their remit, and if not, what's the answer... anarchy ? For reference, 18 is the legal 'adult' age in the UK, hence the age in this proposal.

Where do you draw the line though? I understand the point you're trying to make, but don't you agree that I can counter your 'else .. anarchy' point with 'govern, like in Brave New World'? People that argue that the government doesn't need to track people's porn habits and decide at which age porn is acceptable aren't automatically against governing/governments. I understand what 18 years represent in the UK (and her…

Fair points.

Would the age being 16 change that, as it's the age of consent. Would that then be seen that the age of consent should be removed ?

Unfortunately, I believe it probably would help many parents as there are still a vast amount of people who are unaware of what the internet offers, even though their children already see it.

You could suggest educating parents, but then many don't care.

It's certainly been interesting seeing the differing viewpoints on this discussion.

Re: UK Government proposes porn-viewing ID

#88

Post by mobiuscog »

vertex-four wrote: post #85
joosters wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Combine that with ensuring that your child's computer is in a public place, not their bedroom. Not really practical advice in an era of tablets and mobiles.

Very practical - don't give your <12yo child a tablet or smartphone. They're not necessary parts of human existence, and certainly not of a child's existence.

Exactly. Unfortunately, this seems less usual than you would think.

Re: UK Government proposes porn-viewing ID

#89

Post by ipedrazas »

viraptor wrote: post #40
mobiuscog wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's certainly easy to stumble across unsavoury content - I have done so accidentally in the past and was amazed how easy it was. I can't say how much of a problem it is, but then I suspect nobody can. As a parent (and yes, as stated already, I do limit internet access) I know that most parents definitely wouldn't want these things to be viewed early in life - I have no problem with adults viewing whatever they want,…

If you want to filter traffic at home, I don't think it's that hard. There's a whole industry trying to solve that problem. Google "internet family filter" and choose one. Your ISP probably provides one as well (my last 3 ISPs did) I'll likely use one as well when I have kids. But I'm absolutely against any government program to enforce the same. But my experience is much different. Apart from sexualised models adver…

We agree that government is not the right way of solving this issue, but it's incredibly easy to have images to show up that are far from appropriate for children... or that you would share at the table

Re: UK Government proposes porn-viewing ID

#90

Post by pharrington »

mobiuscog wrote: post #2

Something has to be done. It's not just about porn or violence of NSFL etc... but there is a serious problem on the internet, that is always lambasted with the "Won't somebody think of the children" memes. When society has reached a point that anybody with internet access can, simply by 'accidentally' going to the wrong website, be exposed to imagery that really is not going to help them be well-adjusted in life, wit…

I mean, just a few years ago your daughter was literally sucking on titties like it was nothing. You want to prevent her from accidentally seeing some of the more ridiculous hardcore imagery thats out there? Fine, thats reasonable: install uBlock Origin, done. You wanna make sure she doesn't see naked people? You have to explain how that even begins to be traumatic if you expect to have common ground with other reasonable people.
Post reply on HN