UK to Ban Possession of Certain 'Violent' Pornography 557
Backlash writes "Massive surveillance? Check. Building a DNA database? Check. Laws against thought crime? Not yet, but coming very soon. The UK government is soon to pass legislation that would criminalise possession of certain types of 'violent' pornography, even if it was part of a consensual session between two adults. Lord Wallace of Tankerness pointed out an ideological schism during last week's debate in the House of Lords: 'If no sexual offence is being committed it seems very odd indeed that there should be an offence for having an image of something which was not an offence. ... Having engaged in it consensually would not be a crime, but to have a photograph of it in one's possession would be a crime. That does not seem to make sense to me.'" Combine laws like this with widespread computer ownership, and it makes a whole lot of (Orwellian) sense.
Ban bread? (Score:5, Insightful)
I agree that a substantial number of rapists and molesters and whatnot probably do get off on "violent" porn. But so do quite a few very normal people who will never rape someone. Consensual kink is a gorgeous thing, an expression of incredible trust. The fact that some rapists get off on it is insufficient to justify banning it, after all, last I heard quite a few rapists drink water and eat bread.
Of course, this parallels some sex laws already enacted where I live. It's legal to have sex with someone who's 16, provided you're not in a position of authority over them... But have a picture of you having sex with your 16 year old girlfriend? Not a wise move.
I think that both laws are ridiculous personally. If it's not illegal to do, then it shouldn't be illegal to represent digitally with a bunch of 1s and 0s.
Why stop there ? (Score:5, Insightful)
It's like the printing press all over again. We need to stop people from having access to "dangerous" information.
*rolls eyes*
Re:Ban bread? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Consequence of globalization (Score:5, Insightful)
It's hard to see how possession of photos taken between consenting adults fits into that mold.
Re:Why stop there ? (Score:4, Insightful)
So if any of you UK residents have any Clint Eastwood movies your best bet is to get rid of them NOW before your thought police come for you.
I guess here in the US we're next. You had the Big Brother CCTV cameras first, but we have them now, too. Our legislators never funded the "Big Brother Is watching" posters, have yours?
Re:and now for something completely different (Score:2, Insightful)
Look, the United States of America is actually unusual in having protected ownership of guns. Most western and Asian countries now strictly control gun ownership. If you want to know why...no, I won't say it. It'll only kick of the same retarded g*n c*ntr*l threads you get over the whole damn internet.
And now...back on topic (Score:4, Insightful)
However, something like this ban where it may be a film of consensual 'violent' sex...maybe simulated rape....just isn't right. What if you take the people out of it completely....and use computer generated images for rape, snuff or kiddie crap. If someone wants to create and view those images, aside from someone having morality problems....no crime has been committed, and therefore what is the problem with people creating, owning and viewing such content if they are adult?
This brings up something I see coming...with the seeming 'rash' of young teens today, filming themselves beating the shit out of other teens, or even older people....when will we see a ban on these types of video content? Sure, it isn't sexual, but, someone is being hurt...seriously in some cases. Will we see bans on that, or is it not sensational enough since it didn't involve any ones naughty parts?
Re:and now for something completely different (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:We want them broken. (Score:2, Insightful)
No. This is basic human nature at work. Politician's are professionals, and as such, their #1 interest is to keep their job - which they do by being reelected, not by throwing people into jail. Politician's also tend to attract people who believe that they're better than everyone else, love power and/or need the public spot light. None of which has anything to do with competence, and in fact self-selects against honesty, long-term thinking and integrity. The end result is that the people who make laws are among the least qualified to do so.
That's what behind shit laws like these - that, and stupid people who keep voting these idiots back into office. Not some kind of evil genius.
Re:Questions that need to be asked (Score:3, Insightful)
People are *ahem* desensitized to the idea of making certain videos or pictures illegal, because of the widely approved ban on child pornography, but in matters such as this, where consenting adults are involved in the production of the material, I can't see there being any distinction between laws like these and a government ban on certain books.
Re:Lord Wallace of Tankerness (Score:3, Insightful)
But, why don't you ban people from the Soviet Union and China? Or, women?
Seriously, this is the debate between correlation and causation that happens around video games. It's just in a different guise.
Rapists often use violent porn, but does violent porn cause rape? Much crime is committed by people under the influence of alcohol, but does alcohol cause the crime? People who have gone on shooting rampages have obsessed over violent video games, but did the games cause the violence? The list goes on -- nobody is seriously making the claim that by making these things illegal, all of these problems go away. (OK, some people are, in fact, making that claim. They're idiots.)
See, it's very difficult to selectively pick things in which there is a correlation but no evidence of causation, and start banning them. There a lot of things which could potentially end up on that list.
Yes, all of these nasty things you describe happen, and they are crimes. They should be treated as such. Nobody is saying rape, or human trafficking, or child abuse, or any of those things is a good thing and should be protected.
But, as the summary points out -- if it was a consensual act between adults of sound mind, how could having an image of it then be a crime? You end up demonizing everyone who has a different view of sexuality than yours. Some of the things they're talking about banning could be as simple as spanking. Some of it, while not to either of our tastes, is completely consensual. Heck, if you want to spend your weekend getting flogged, have at 'er. If you want to abduct someone and do it to them against their will? You're a criminal. The gap between those is huge.
You can't strip away the rights of people to engage in consensual acts, and photograph them if they so choose, on the basis that someone, somewhere, is having crimes committed against their person. It's completely irrational.
You're advocating a blanket ban on a behavior by everyone on the basis that some people are criminals. A lot of lawmakers in the UK are pointing out that this is a very over-broad law with no real thought put into making sure that you preserve the rights on individuals. If you remove the right to photograph it, you might as well out law the act. And then you're criminalizing the behavior of people on the basis that it might have some commonality with actual crimes.
And, let's face it, people in Britain (and everywhere else) have been spanking and doing otherwise strange things to each other for hundreds of years. It's a little late to start backing up that bus.
Cheers
Hi Mr. Bad Analogy Guy, here's a bad analogy (Score:3, Insightful)
Oh wait that's no analogy. OK, pornography is like photos of feet. How's that for a bad analogy? Well, it really isn't, and in fact is not an analogy at all! I shall explain:
Define "violent". Define "pornography". Ok, let the dictionary do it:Ok, now we have two more problems: defining "Obscene" and more importantly "art". I commented earlier that some of my journals were obscene, and I would argue that they have "little or no artistic merit" as well.I know a fellow (the one in Dork Side of the Moon [slashdot.org], the one who committed the attempted murder that he spent two weeks in the county jail for) who has a foot fetish. A woman with small feet excites him sexually. By the dictionary definition I just quoted, pictures of feet are then obscene.
Obscenity is in the mind of the beholder. This law makes every writing, painting, photograph, drawing, print, and sculpture against the law. Better close your museums!
Easy to get this repealed. (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:We want them broken. (Score:3, Insightful)
Also, there is the idea that politicians who get into office certainly don't do anything to fix it. If they see it and have the power to change it, are they any less responsible?
Re:reality vs fantasy (Score:5, Insightful)
I wish I had mod points. Whether it's the House of Lords or the Supreme Court, history has shown that having part of the government be virtually unaccountable to the whims of popularity is vital. You need people with the power and freedom to stand up and voice unpopular opinions.
The House of Lords (Score:3, Insightful)
It actually pains me that the unelected house is the only thing keeping the governments nastiest instincts in check now. British people have become so politically impotent that we rely on the munificence of aristocrats to safeguard our liberty.
That said, there is probably no legislative body on Earth so qualified to stand up for deviant sexual practices.
Comment removed (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:No one gives a shit about Men (Score:3, Insightful)
In the UK, men are generally portrayed as a problem. Yes it does have highly negative consequences. For example, its very hard to get men to teach in primary school, as they would be facing a huge risk of being attacked as paedophiles because they are "in the playground with children". This means that many children grow up with a very negative image of men, and hence a viscious circle.
Anti-male propaganda is probaby causing a considerable amount of pain and death, but the women's movement can not be confronted publicly.
Thought crime is a major problem in the UK. Especially if judged by the amount of resources which are spent on investigating it. Knife crime in the steets is far less of a problem of course, because far fewer people commit it.
Re:Why stop there ? (Score:3, Insightful)
Comment removed (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Lord Wallace of Tankerness (Score:3, Insightful)
Yeah, it's just like the drugs: after they were made illegal to possess, the profits of drug traffickers plummeted in freefall.
Making violent porn illegal will simply serve to drive the profit into the hands of criminals. Want to make a legitimate BDSM porn film by having the actors, well, act ? You can't. But the Mafia can. Only the Mafia might decide to skip getting actors, and just have their sicker members torture some poor bastard to death in front of a camera.
Basically, if sick porn is legal, people will fake it, with acting or 3D computer graphics or pen and paper. Since the stuff is available for free in the Internet, few people will buy it, making it insufficiently profitable for organized crime to bother. But make it illegal, and thus hard to get, and it becomes extremely profitable for the Mafia to get into it. And, like I already said, Mafia has no reason to play nice and fake it.
Re:and now for something completely different (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:and now for something completely different (Score:5, Insightful)
a) First, someone appeared with the thesis: "Guns kill people!!! Let's outlaw them!1!!11!1!"
b) Then the gun owners came with the antithesis, shooting their own foot with a well (mis)placed: "Guns don't kill people!!! People kill people!11!!!1!!"
c) Enters then the British government with a synthesis of its own: "You both are right!!! We must ban guns AND make people stop killing people!!! And what's the best way to accomplish this? To forbid everyone from seeing any violence at all, ever!!!111!1!"
And thus the lamb nation model is born. Next in line for implementation: violent movies, violent games, violent cartoons, violent books, violent news, textbooks mentioning violent events, people talking about violence in public...
Now, do you know what's most funny in all of this? The fact that this whole discussion is millennia old. In fact, Plato started the thing by criticize arts (such as theater) that depicted bad emotions by arguing that they increased the propensity of those watching them to emulate those same emotions. To which Aristotle countered with his wholly new concept of catharsis, saying that no, in fact the effect is the exact opposite, with those watching bad emotions in fiction feeling fulfilled with those and not pursuing them in real life.
2400 years later, we still didn't reach a conclusion. Go figure...
Re:and now for something completely different (Score:3, Insightful)