UK Considering Automatic Web Filtering For Adult Content 170
Dupple writes with news that the British government is considering restrictions for ISPs that would block by default anything considered "adult content." From the article:
"Ministers are suggesting that people should automatically be barred from accessing unsuitable adult material unless they actually choose to view it. It is one of several suggestions being put out for a consultation on how to shield children from pornography. Websites promoting suicide, anorexia and self-harm are also being targeted. The discussion paper asks for views on three broad options for the best approach to keeping children safe online, in a rapidly changing digital industry. ... The latest system, called 'active choice-plus,' is aimed at reaching a compromise. It would automatically block adult content, but would set users a question, along the lines of whether they want to change this to gain access to sites promoting pornography, violence and other adult-only themes. This is partly based on 'Nudge' theory, a U.S. concept which states that persuasion, rather than enforcement, can be an effective way of changing behavior."
Are you telling me... (Score:3, Interesting)
...that every 18 year old still living at home, with the legal right to view such material... now has to approach his mother and father and say "Could you please turn the porn on?". This could destroy more lives than the current setup.
I have an even simpler solution (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:"active choice-plus" (Score:5, Interesting)
It really isn't that simple. I had always thought that it wouldn't be a problem, put the computer in the main room, not in the kids bedroom and there is at least passing oversight when my son is getting his allotted half hour of 'robots' (some nick jr game he likes). Even now, at 3, he can start to wander through the internet and has stumbled onto some inappropriate sites. Now, I do not beleive the gov't should step in here, but i do need a way to manage what he is seeing.
I see this 'parents should just parent' complaint a lot but any parent knows you can't be watching your kids all the time while we are running around trying to get dinner on the table and the myriad other things required to keep a house going.
Enter tablets and smart phones and communication enabled diapers. in 4-5 years, every one of these kids is giong to have a personalized internet device. This idea of a computer in the living room will be completely separate from his primary connection to the internet and I am going to need a way to manage that. My personal plan is to stick a proxy on our network and let it be clear that I have the logs so I will know if you do dumb things but that will only work until they get a little bit sophisticated. While I don't agree w/ gov't stepping in, I have yet to see a workable solution.
Re:Content Filtering IRL (Score:4, Interesting)
The *sites* are the ones that should be held to the same standards as brick-and-mortar stores. Having the ISP enforce those rules would be like putting regulations on roads that prevent minors from visiting those brick-and-mortar stores.
And guess what? The porn sites *already* follow laws designed to keep minors out. Granted, they usually follow US laws instead of UK laws, simply because of statistics (the US has more porn sites per capita than ANY other country, and a rather large population to boot). But they're effectively the same.
Re:Really? (Score:4, Interesting)
So, leave it exactly the way it is, then?
Bingo. Somebody needs to sit down every public official in the world and very carefully explain, in words of one syllable, with big simple line-art pictures, that the Internet is not television.
Everything on the internet is only retrievable if you actively ask for it. It is a "pull" medium, unlike every other medium invented so far, which have been "push" mediums. For the first time, if you want to see something, you have to click a link. You can't just tune in a channel and then lie on the couch drooling while imagery is shoved into your face 24/7.
Yes there was a short period of scripted pop-under hell, when browsers naively allowed sites to open extra windows any time they wanted to. Then the browsers started getting addons blocking that behavior, then they got integrated settings to block that behavior, and then the worst offenders decided it wasn't worth the trouble anymore and the phenomenon disappeared.
That little snippet of history is a microcosm of the entire Internet concept. The user had to actively do something to invoke the behavior in the first place, and when the user decided they didn't like that behavior, they took steps to eliminate the behavior on their own desktops. This is the way it SHOULD work. It's working perfectly right now. Nothing more needs to be done. If I clicked on a porn link, I already indicated I wanted to see the goddamn content. I don't need to do it twice.
Sadly for the UK population, they keep electing steadily more nanny-state Puritannical busybodies. Others have already commented on this thread that Orwell's book is rapidly becoming a reality in the UK. Too bad they don't have a constitutional right to freedom of speech.