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Godaddy caves to UK Porn hysteria

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Re: Godaddy caves to UK Porn hysteria

#3
My rant about the topic of UK Porn is that it is entirely analogous to what is happening in Russia with the anti-Gay legislation.

Two forms of sexual expression, both states using the same logic in terms of reasons for legislating against them, namely "Protect the children". Both with social stigma and negative attitudes from the most ardent conservatives of the population.

Though in Russia the bigotry extends a little deeper in terms of social acceptance (or lack thereof), i.e. violence against porn watchers is pretty much non-existent in the UK. But in terms of the law, what is to be codified into law is very similar.

/endrant

Feel free to debate and correct my naive interpretation if you disagree.

Re: Godaddy caves to UK Porn hysteria

#4

My rant about the topic of UK Porn is that it is entirely analogous to what is happening in Russia with the anti-Gay legislation. Two forms of sexual expression, both states using the same logic in terms of reasons for legislating against them, namely "Protect the children". Both with social stigma and negative attitudes from the most ardent conservatives of the population. Though in Russia the bigotry extends a litt…

Most governments already control alcohol and tobacco sales "to protect the children". It seems like the UK government thinks they can make the argument that pornography falls in the same category. TV, movies, and YouTube already restrict pornographic content as well, and there doesn't seem to be a lot of strong arguments against that.

Re: Godaddy caves to UK Porn hysteria

#5
> As a related part of this move, the government has already arranged with the six largest Wi-Fi hot-spot operators in the country to have porn filters turned on by default.

> I haven’t personally tested these networks, but they’re apparently using the kind of lazy keyword filters that are already blocking access to newspaper reports about Cameron’s speech.

That's a good thing, it'll demonstrate just how lousy the idea is.

> Censorship, in the name of “protecting the children” is already happening here in the UK.

Is it really censorship if it doesn't stop anything from being published or read? At the moment it's an optional filter.

We already have stricter controls over what children can see in the form of film ratings. Except even then parents can rent / buy films and allow their children to watch them.

I don't want to say "It's not censorship unless you're being beaten up by police" (see, eg, Egypt (http://www.freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-net/2012/egypt)) but, well, I'm not bothered by poor quality filters that I can turn off being put on my Internet. There's plenty of stupid things that ISPs do already that are more annoying.

Re: Godaddy caves to UK Porn hysteria

#6
post #4

My rant about the topic of UK Porn is that it is entirely analogous to what is happening in Russia with the anti-Gay legislation. Two forms of sexual expression, both states using the same logic in terms of reasons for legislating against them, namely "Protect the children". Both with social stigma and negative attitudes from the most ardent conservatives of the population. Though in Russia the bigotry extends a litt…

Most governments already control alcohol and tobacco sales "to protect the children". It seems like the UK government thinks they can make the argument that pornography falls in the same category. TV, movies, and YouTube already restrict pornographic content as well, and there doesn't seem to be a lot of strong arguments against that.

Alcohol and tobacco, at least in the US, are not controlled to "protect the children". Because a 20 year old man can't get alcohol either.

To your other point, there is a material philosophical difference between Google/YouTube, (private company), banning books/media, and one's government banning books/media.

Re: Godaddy caves to UK Porn hysteria

#7
I might be a minority here, but I honestly think that making internet porn opt-in is a good idea, I am not from UK, but I support it.

As a reader of /r/nofap subreddit, I have learned that porn have had a very negative impact on a lot of people, and it is certainly not healthy for very young people (or even kids) to have easy access to it (as the situation is now).

I am just not sure if I would support other categories to block (like "esoteric material"), but regarding porn - good idea. You can opt-in if you want, can't you? The only problem is that if there are more adults in a household, and only some of them wants to opt-in.

Re: Godaddy caves to UK Porn hysteria

#8
Instead of having ISPs and governments with databases detailing which one of us wants to enjoy online porn, there should be a standard on how to provide adult material on the internet. If this was to be implemented it'd be easy to create simple technologies that users could use for filtering out this kind of material themselves. The use case that most people would find this good is blocking porn in kids' phones and computer accounts. The easiest solution being having a .xxx domain.

Re: Godaddy caves to UK Porn hysteria

#9
post #7

I might be a minority here, but I honestly think that making internet porn opt-in is a good idea, I am not from UK, but I support it. As a reader of /r/nofap subreddit, I have learned that porn have had a very negative impact on a lot of people, and it is certainly not healthy for very young people (or even kids) to have easy access to it (as the situation is now). I am just not sure if I would support other categori…

Why does government or industry have to intervene in your personal life? If you don't want to view pornographic material, don't search for it. Stay away from sites where you might see something like it. If you're a parent, educate your kid.

This is a waste of time and money. Plain and simple.

Re: Godaddy caves to UK Porn hysteria

#10
This whole story would be hilarious if it wasn't so sad. I can just imagine a whole generation of young brits teaching each other how to avoid this idiotic pornography filter. Just like every other ineffective pornography filter has been worked around by every other group of adolescents in internet history.

The people who think it works get placated, the kids work around it, and it has absolutely no effect on violence, rape or abuse whatsoever. Efficaciously a win win.

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