Porn Losers

The government's latest knee jerk reaction to the non-threat of internet pornography is more than a little worrying.  They are proposing that, from next year, age verification of some kind will be required to view pornographic sites.  This could involve giving up credit card details (always a good on the web, eh?) as proof that one is over eighteen.  Now, this is worrisome on several levels.  Most obviously, it seems to demonstrate that our rulers have only the flimsiest grasp of how the internet actually works.  They are aware, aren't they, that the overwhelming majority of porn sites are based outside of the UK and therefore beyond the reach of such regulations?  They do know, don't they, that the web is a global thing that transcends national borders?   They don't seem to grasp that any UK porn sites covered by such legislation would simply move to overseas servers, where they can't be prosecuted for not enabling this ludicrous age verification nonsense.  The only way they can make such legislation effective - and here's the next worrisome thought - would be to try and set up something like China's so called 'Great Firewall of China' and attempt to regulate what UK citizens can and can't see on the web.

Such censorship would be an extremely repressive move and a clear attempt to block both freedom of information and free speech.  Of course, they've already tried a variation on this approach by trying to get Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to place content filters on customers' accounts by default, blacklisting 'adult' sites and requiring customers to actively request the filters' removal.  The thing is that these filters and blacklists won't just stop you from seeing so called 'adult' sites - they will block all sorts of innocent sites.  There have been plenty of reports already of sexual health sites being blocked, not to mention sites promoting 'alternative lifestyles' and esoteric beliefs.  I've had personal experience of this sort of thing: I once tried to look at Gav Crimson's blog using the 4G connection on my phone, only to find it being blocked on the grounds of it containing adult material and my carrier demanding age verification (which, I found, would actually cost me money).  Naturally, ny reaction was one of 'fuck off' - I thought then and still feel that it is areal liberty to try and dictate to me what I can and can't see on my personal phone using a data connection I pay for.  Even worse is the fact that the blog in question isn't pornographic, it merely reviews and discusses vintage British adult films and pop culture.  But, it has been placed behind one of those warning screens by Google - which they slap on any Blogger blog if some busybody has complained that something on it has offended them - which my 4G carrier clearly equates with pornographic content. 

As I said, we really need to be worried at this latest attempt at censorship. As ever it is all being justified on the old 'won't somebody think of the children' schtick.  Apparently, repression of the internet is the only way to stop children seeing all that horrible porn (the fact that the same sort of stuff is being peddled as prime time entertainment in the form of 'reality TV' like Love Island on freely available mainstream TV channels doesn't seem to come into it).  The fact is that restricting what children see, whether it be on TV, in print or on the internet, is a parental responsibility, not that of the state.  We really need to oppose these measures, otherwise we won't just be porn losers, so to speak, but also risk accepting an unprecedented and unregulated degree of censorship.