Uk Government Choose to save children by taking away our right to choose

Im going to be lazy when i do this,

i will post what i put up exactly on my facebook, i will then post the comment of two of my friends who are in agreement,

So...

It’s that time again where I need to rant about current events

For those not aware, the UK government will be pushing for an Opt in scheme in relation to porn on the internet, first I will highlight the views of the "pro opt" people, then then numerous negatives, finally the question will be posed, what next?

Pro Opt in -

there is the felling which i have read through today that this will prevent children from having access to porn, this has been argued as a good thing as "certain boys now expect too much in the bedroom" and "I can’t stop my kids from looking at porn on the computer" the general view is the government is doing this for the good of the children and as such should be commended....

Negative points -

first, if using currently technology readily available in either your operating system or you router, even going as far as to purchase a third party application which either blocks or monitors usage is either not being used by the parents or they do not understand it, this block will do nothing, there are numerous work arounds already in place for torrenting, hoping someone else will monitor your kids because you are too lazy to learn is a terrible attitude to have.
That brings me on to torrenting, you can easily gain access to porn via torrent websites, and we need to presume if the children in question are able to actively search and find porn they will have no problem search torrent websites and finding porn.

Secure networking, for this to work we must then presume there will be either fines or strict government policy on Wi-Fi in the UK as an unsecured Wi-Fi will be an easy access to every child in the street to access the internet and thus porn.

If a child can get access to the porn does that not leave an open market for them to trade in porn now, I imagine 15 year olds who do not have access will pay and swap for stuff on usb sticks from those more savvy to access the sites..

then we have the misconceived view this will reduce child pornography, it hurts me to see the great unwashed believe the red topped tabloids when they think virgin media and sky blocking porn sites will stop guys who have dedicated proxies and servers, essentially a secondary version of the internet (for lack of a better description) where they can access and trade out with the control of the government… there will be no change in it as this will cause no difference to that level and form of usage.

So that brings us to why?

As the government have made this an - opt in for pornography option, will this mean there will a big list of “deviants” kept somewhere?
Is this the government testing the water?
If this is accepted by the great unwashed shall we see music\religions\political opposition’s websites be deemed as corrupting the young? Where will that line of thought end? i vist the odd conspiracy website, does this mean those sites should be ban due to political views of some, religous agenda's etc.?

This is an issue that needs to be monitored by the public, this is your ability to access what you choose, your ability to be a good parent, your ability to have a choice on controlling content as you see fit….

but its ok Joe public… watch the cute baby




Friend 1 -

Very well put Paul. This is possibly the first step in a slippery slope, what next? Censorship should lie with the individual. Educate people and let them make an informed choice on what is appropriate for them and their children. I suspect the police will discover they have been living in a golden age where a digital foot print has allowed them to catch many offenders. However, much like pre Internet this will push this activity further underground making it difficult to prove as a cache of nasty photos might not be sitting on a hard drive anymore.

Discovering pornography is almost a rite of passage for some young people and a natural part of our early curiosity about sex. Watching porn doesn't make you anymore of a deviant than listening to rock music, reading comics and a host of other mundane hobbies than have all been labelled as causing criminal behaviour at some point in the past.

Our freedoms and free choice are slowly being eroded. Do we not invade other countries to prevent citizens living with oppressive governments?


Friend 2 -

I didn't know about this but to me it's just another example of the Government (or more likely the corporations behind the Government) taking away more of our personal freedoms and the more we give, the more they will ask for...we don't need a nanny nation!!!! We are capable of making our own decisions or we're going to end up living out the plot line of Idiocracy! I pretty much hate any across the board bans on anything - we're supposed to be free. We have common sense and our own values and I'm sooo sick of politicians, the CEO's paying them and whoever else trying to interfere in what we're "allowed" to do or not do.... herding us like cattle into thinking we're doing it because we want to and it's best for us.. and all under the guise of "protecting our children" or "protecting us from terrorists" or whatever else.... whilst they take take take away our rights. Makes me so mad!!!! It's not even about porn...it's about freedom to make your own choices as a liberated human being. Laws should benefit ALL and there should be public consensus and the true facts and proper discussions and cases should be put forward.... but how is that possible when our media is owned by a few corporations and our government funds some our TV stations and we're being bombarded with horror stories making us all terrified and almost thankful that they're doing something about all of these daily tragedies..... f*cking arghhh. Won't stop people anyway. There's always Tor and dedicated servers and torrents and newsgroups.....people will find a way. The internet is one of the last free places in this sickening joke of a society and they're slowly trying to take it away inch by inch and control what we're allowed to see and read...easier for us to continue being mindless drones that work for a living to make other people rich. Life doesn't have to be like this...there are other systems, other ideas, other ways of running a society....people need to start thinking for themselves. OK rant over!!! ps. I agree.... this is a bad idea and will only lead to more bad ideas and bans. They'll deffo keep a list of Opt-Ins and it will be mentioned whenever any of them commit any crime. "Porn addict rapes baby" or other headline shockers until they can start all out banning whole categories and controlling the internet like they try and do in China and so on and they'll even have public support after their aforementioned 'PR' campaign to get everyone on side. Protect children... vote for safety...




Sometimes the best things in life are to find out your friends are switched on too gives me hope somtimes

(might need to drag them both here)

reply to post by GonzoSinister


Honestly dont worry about it all you need to do is download a VPN like hotspot shield that spoofs your IP address and it is a security essential you should mostly use anyway to protect your privacy so in the long run if everyone starts using VPNS the over all internet security of the U.K will become tighter, this will probably bite the government in the ass when they are trying to track a terrorist and half of the U.K has the same IP address.

Originally posted by SupersonicSerpent
reply to post by GonzoSinister

 

Honestly dont worry about it all you need to do is download a VPN like hotspot shield that spoofs your IP address it is a security essential you should mostly use anyway to protect your privacy so in the long run if everyone starts using VPNS the over all internet security of the U.K will become tighter, this will probably bite the government in the ass when they are trying to track a terrorist and half of the U.K has the same IP address.

Haha yeah, to be honest im not concerned about the outcome of it happening in the short term, i have worked in IT for a long time, im comfortable with ways around such things...

its the principle, its in my opinion the ifrst step in slowly trying to censor other "bad for the populace" things....

All domestic UK broadband links are pretty much running censored technically as they use an IWF system that ban's certain URL's linked to CP but theres no way of knowing whats on that list and if theres anything other than CP being filtered out

But once people can't visit their favourite website they'll ask for ways around it and within a few weeks it'll be as if it never happened

Curiously enough as a single guy, with no children and who surfs pornograpghy
I think censoring the Internet as a means to defer underage people from accessing pornography is a positive step in the right direction.

Just as publicans have a responsibility to defer underage drinking by various means including posted signs and age verification checks, so too should your internet providor. This is not a 100% surefire method to discourage underage drinking, because when children feel they have come to the age of experimentation they will find the means anyway. This may also be a part of the teenage rite of passage. Their first glimpse of rebellion or responsibility depending on your views.

However, (and I can't believe that I'm saying this) there should be more stringent and regulated safeguards to ensure that some of the most horrendous pornography on the net cannot be accessed by a simple unobstructed keystroke by a minor whose age isn't even in double digit figures.

If your worried that such methods will mean registering yourself as a person who surfs pornography then wake up and accept that we all do. We are living in the digital age where all our digital footprints are recorded weather you like it or not. The database of your personal file grows with every log-in, pornographic or not, and the only times that your usage will come into question is when your usage pushes the limits of legality, pornographic or not.

The content of what you surf is what raises red flags, NOT FREQUENCY, thank god, otherwise I would have been locked up ages ago, given a psych test, FAILED, and put into a straight jacket. LOL.

we don't leave loaded guns within easy access of minors, nor do we allow them to view images of murder, rape, war, illicit drug use etc, until they are of an age when their minds can comprehend the nature of such things, and then we hope they can process such behaviour responsibly. They can watch all the Bruce Willis movies they want, but there must be a clear line drawn in the sand to separate stylised violence from real violence, just as there should be a clear distinction between stylised sex practices and realistic sexual expectations, otherwise every teenage boy may expect his first girlfriend to perform the way a teenage pornstar behaves in such movies, and not give any kind of regard to her feelings or limitations.

We may keep alcohol at home and tell our children not to drink it, and we expect that rule to be adhered to. However when they go down the street away from adult supervision, we expect other laws governing publican responsibility to prohibit them from underage drinking. I believe that every time somebody logs onto a computer to surf the net, they are essentially leaving their house. You wouldn't let your underage kids walk the streets of a red-light district with hawkers in every doorway enticing them to come in, without any safeguards, but that is what the equivalent potential is every time they log onto the net away from your supervision.

If The Playboy Mansion was the worst sex-rated material on the Internet, then maybe I would not be so vocal, but as an adult who has seen some extreme material, I feel that parental lockouts may not be safeguard enough.