I find it hilarious (in the "world is just too ****** up to think seriously anymore" sort of funny) that i can literally watch Saddam get hung, Gaddafi beat up/shot, journalists get beheaded, but a bit of boob and it's the end of the world - how dare you?!
UK plans age verification for porn websites from 2018
- Thread starter Glanza
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Won't somebody please think of the children!
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Yeah but if you can unblock it then surely it could be that way as you suggested. Block by default and just enable things as you need them. I agree giving adult sites your card details is probably not desirable. But Isp controlled access already exists. Sure it doesn't stop it from being accessed if you want to really do it.
I do accept that this should be down to parents policing their internet access but surely it is easier to block dodgy sites by default? And it doesn't have to be just sexually explicit sites, but adult content and violence etc....
I really don't care much about this if this is implemented I don't feel encroached upon or any rights or liberties being removed. But this is just my personal opinion.
Porn websites must install age-verification software or risk being banned from UK. However, the measures also come with privacy risks for UK citizens.
UK porn crackdown: £250,000 fines for websites if users are not over 18.
Was just thinking, why should some firm in foreign countries have to put this onto their site? And how can govt even think of trying to fine someone in a different country, just because someone in blighty used the site without any "give me your sensitive data" on there?
Can't imagine that'd be easy to do in the slightest, if at all.
"“We have taken steps to implement the new age verification requirement for online pornography as part of our continuing work to make the internet safer,” Hancock said."
hehe, misread that. Was thinking, "new age?" Very hippy
UK porn crackdown: £250,000 fines for websites if users are not over 18.
Was just thinking, why should some firm in foreign countries have to put this onto their site? And how can govt even think of trying to fine someone in a different country, just because someone in blighty used the site without any "give me your sensitive data" on there?
Can't imagine that'd be easy to do in the slightest, if at all.
"“We have taken steps to implement the new age verification requirement for online pornography as part of our continuing work to make the internet safer,” Hancock said."
hehe, misread that. Was thinking, "new age?" Very hippy
It's very scary what is happening.
Is the banning of vpns that is the most concerning outcome of this erosion of our privacy.
I really don't like where all this is going. It really is going down these sci-fi routes where everything is controlled and you can't do anything.
Net neutrality,
Vpns,
Banning more and more content.
Really makes me uncomfortable
Is the banning of vpns that is the most concerning outcome of this erosion of our privacy.
I really don't like where all this is going. It really is going down these sci-fi routes where everything is controlled and you can't do anything.
Net neutrality,
Vpns,
Banning more and more content.
Really makes me uncomfortable
Soldato
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State run government controlled and censored websites?
Yep. It's a slippery slope. you can slowly erode peoples rights. First this, then next you can easily see that they blame vpns for circumventing it. They get banned.
Porn is an easy target too as its hard to speak out against in mainstream.
I can understand the angle that porn is harmful to young people and influences their future relationships/self image etc. but feel that trash TV is probably way worse. As anything, we need studies, for SCIENCE!
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That doesn't seem compatible with the right to privacy so there's something that you should feel is being encroached upon.
As others have mentioned, this is all part of a slippery slope. Given the only recent implementation of the Snooper's Charter and the desire to rapidly move away from the EU and the various courts/protections that it provides this is firmly outside of tin foil hat territory at this point.
Regardless of the above, you've admitted that the measure can be circumvented. If so, what is the point in implementing it? What is the advantage to be gained, outside of erosion of our civil rights?
It always happens when government types move in to an area that was previously free. They just can't stand there being a place which they have no control over. The same thing happened to TV and radio last generation.
Maybe instead of all these controls, we should require people to pass a test before they are allowed to use the internet. For their own safety. It's the people using something they don't understand who are causing all these problems and falling victim to online fraud etc.
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As mentioned above I actually think trash TV is more damaging than Porn. So I don't think the argument holds. This love island thing is terrible!
Is just government wanting more control. Nothing more. And Porn is an easy way to very public acceptance
Is just government wanting more control. Nothing more. And Porn is an easy way to very public acceptance
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It's the internet. Nothing you do on it isn't trackable in some way. I don't do anything particularly nefarious on it, but if I did, I'd do so with my eyes open (e.g. I've downloaded some movies in the past fully aware that it's not allowed).
Every time you use a credit card, or buy something online, or go on holiday or whatever there is some form of data profiling/compiling being done to a certain degree. If you're a nobody (which most of us are) then you'll just disappear as there's nothing remotely interesting. If there are some red flags triggered then of course more investigation will be undertaken.
Do I care? Ideally I'd love for more privacy - but not at the detriment of everything else around me. I don't really care about "going off the grid". If I did, I wouldn't have bank accounts, a mortgage, a car, insurance, a passport etc...
Yes I'm being slightly OTT and absurd in my example - but I honestly don't care about having parts of the internet blocked by default. The internet is a luxury that was born during my lifetime, it's tool that has grown exponentially - if a small section is sanctioned it really is not going to bother me.
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Completely agree there's so much crap on tv (so much so I don't watch it - don't have time anyway). But something I have noticed is things like music vids and so on have become so much more sexual than I remember them being.
Actually it's pretty easy to not be trackable online. You don't even need a VPN etc. Just go to a wifi hotspot. Or hack someone's private wifi.
Soldato
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pretty sure the porn industry is a not insubstantial chunk of the internet
Soldato
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this is a good thing, if it stops very young children and younger teenagers seeing it
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At one point it was certainly a luxury but it is rapidly developing into a requirement in order to live your life normally - which is why I'm so opposed to restrictions being placed upon it beyond preventing extreme/illegal content being available. I'm not some loon that wants to "go off the grid" btw (I'm not saying you were suggesting that but wanted to clarify) - I just believe firmly in the right to privacy and am against ineffective and intrusive measures being introduced that restrict our liberties.
Regarding tracking, we have strict data privacy laws that protect us so I don't agree with the first two points you've made. It's exactly these protections that are being slowly eroded by the current government with completely false reasoning of "protecting us against terrorism" (with something that is easily circumvented so instead just allows monitoring and profiling of the general public) and "protecting children against pornography" (with something that is easily circumvented so does not provide the protections that it claims). See also "break encryption" for further examples of the way the government wants things to go.
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There you go - so I don't understand why people are so bothered, if it's that easy then go for it.
For some people - for me, and many others it is an irrelevance. I'm sure most people use the internet 99% of the time for value rather than just a bit of perving... but perhaps I'm wrong. Quite sad really.
How will restricting some pornography affect your freedom? I do accept that mild pornography is probably pretty tame compared to what I'm sure exists on there (i.e. violent sexual scenes, exploitation, "revenge porn", as well as violent videos showing death and horrific life altering events) - and I get that people should be free - but this newfound freedom of the internet has proven that humans have no self control. Now that all this information is so readily available people seek out more and more extreme things - I don't know if it is entirely healthy.
I had the unfortunate experience of watching a real death on the internet (African militia casually shooting villagers, it was graphic, and so offhand in their execution of men and women) - it really has stuck with me and made me wish I had never seen it (this was over 10 years ago when all this stuff was still relatively novel). Having seen death in real life, somehow seeing it on the internet made it so casual and easy, I can see how this can be very emotionally scarring for some people. We never had access to this extreme level of graphic detail before. Now, this does not have to be a bad thing too I accept, but humans are poor at controlling themselves, and we sometimes are too carefree for our own good. Some people have no self control either and keep seeking out the next worse thing.
Data privacy laws do exist, but surely with a warrant and relevant permissions they would be overturned regardless of terrorism no? Surely you wouldn't mind a bad guy, or a gang be apprehended with all this evidence available?
Don't get me wrong, I'd love to live in a world where we all don't need to be profiled, or have data protection laws, and so on. What's the answer if we don't do this? Also, how is your life directly being impacted by what is being proposed? I'm not saying you're wrong, and I clearly have missed something, so apologies for being a bit slow, but I'm quite happy to admit I'm clueless about this. However, all I need is some pros/cons or a list of things that will explain why chasing this agenda will lead to something really bad. I understand people want to have privacy, because they don't want some of their private thoughts, emails, activities or parts of their lives recorded (whether legitimate or not, legal or not etc...). If you're an average Joe then surely all this will hardly or not even impact you, unless I've missed something (which I think I clearly have). This is more significant if you're a person of influence/celebrity or whatever.
The internet is not always a good tool, look at the photo leaks of celebrities sending private messages to their loved ones (be they "sexy" poses or not). Hence my distancing from social media - not that I send naked selfies (that didn't exist at the time I would have done it!), but the internet is uncontrolled and is a free for all - maybe it needs a bit of it? I don't know. I still see it as a tool and a distraction. I'm quite happy when I go somewhere where there is no internet - doesn't bother me in the slightest.
Eventually they'll require ISPs to blacklist any sites that don't comply, which will reduce the advertising revenue for the offending firm. It'll first be done through DNS and when everyone switches to an open DNS they'll do it at the IP level. Once everyone's cottoned on that their internet is basically being censored, there'll be an uptick in VPN usage and that's when the government will try to regulate those (i.e. only government-approved VPN services will be allowed w/ logging requirements similar to those of ISPs).
The cost of all of these measures will be passed onto the customers of these services (ISPs, VPN providers, etc.). The sooner we get these lunatics out of government the better, to be honest. If you really want to stop young people being exposed to pornography there needs to be a shift toward greater educational and parental responsibility. The tools are already there to limit what children can and can't see, and to be frank the bigger problem is that most children these days have unsupervised access to the wider internet through smartphones and tablets.