Sun Advice Columnist Advised MPs On UK Porn-Block Plans 118
nk497 writes "The first official expert witness in an inquiry into network-level filtering of porn was a Sun advice columnist called Dear Deidre. A group of MPs has been pushing to censor the UK web to prevent children from seeing porn, but reading the full report reveals the weakness of the evidence. It also features Dear Deidre defending the topless model on Page 3 of her own newspaper, saying, 'the Editor of The Sun thinks it's okay' and 'nine million people read it.'"
Re:Censorship (Score:4, Funny)
If the plan is to censor everything that somebody, somewhere finds offensive then we might as well just pull the plug and be done with it.
I'm offended by censorship. Can we censor the censors?
Re:It's the Sun wot won it (Score:4, Funny)
I think his point was that with censorship comes tighter and tighter copyright controls - meaning they can charge more for their "content". I put quotes around the content part because I suppose it is - but journalistic integrity (or integrity of any kind) is rarely practised by the Sun.
Re:It's the Sun wot won it (Score:5, Funny)
When the Sun on Sunday came out it was advertised as having things like More Sport, More Gossip and More Fashion.
Still no News though.
Re:It's the Sun wot won it (Score:5, Funny)
Also remember that content comes from contain, so even if it is full of sh*t, it still contains something. (Hint: it's brown)
Re:Similar levels of "protection" (Score:5, Funny)
The nudity isn't on the front page of the newspaper. It's "protected" from viewing by children by being on page 3, which means it is obscured by page 1. I expect any internet schemes to be equally technically effective and equally difficult to circumvent (i.e. as difficult as turning the page).
I would say clicking on "Yes I am over 21" in the first screen many sites fits this level of access control rather well. It might actually be harder, as it requires reading skills and more hand eye coordination.
Re:Don't take them seriously (Score:5, Funny)
The Sun and its ilk (the UK's so called "red tops") are read by people of a reading age of about 9 -- about the bottom quartile of the population.
Ah that would explain the MP's interest then.
Absolutely hilarious... (Score:5, Funny)
what I was most surprised to come across in my investigation was the availability, with no age restriction and free on the internet, of pornography including group sex, anal sex, double penetration, apparently having sex with strangers, women in the middle of a group of men who were masturbating over their face.
Has she (MP Jacqui Smith [wikipedia.org]) been watching more porn at taxpayers expense [bbc.co.uk]?