Read more.The Digital Economy Act (2017) and online pornography regulations were passed last week.
Read more.The Digital Economy Act (2017) and online pornography regulations were passed last week.
I'd be very surprised if porn sites who implement this were in the majority. I'd expect them to be far in the minority if they do implement.
And then they'll be circumvented by VPNs, the VPN business seems to be a good one to be in right now!
Just use TOR and you don't even need to bother with a VPN as it will just show you coming from a different country anyway
Jon
Oh how I love the way the government is removing the need for parents to be parents and stop their own children accessing things they don't want them to see.... yes I know it's a crazy view for parent to actually look after their own children these days but but there are plenty of tools built into most OS's which are there to protect children.
It must be for snooping - and tracking what particular users are accessing. They must be chomping at the bit to be able to datamine what person X views over time. And therefore when lots of people use VPN, Tor, Nord, whatever, they will then crack down on those in the name of "safety". If people are doing legal things then either the law needs changing if the gov thinks it shouldn't be legal, or else they should be free to get on with it without invasion of privacy. Not this fudge of stupidity which will not prevent minors from accessing the content.
It's a (presumably) well intentioned, but poorly executed way of impeding personal freedom, and will not solve anything. Is there a problem? Yes. Should we try to protect minors? Yes. Will this in anyway achieve that? No. Not one bit. Ergo the loss of freedom and invasion of privacy is not worth the financial cost and snooping - and let's face it, there must be some snooping to determine whether someone can or can't access x,y or z site.
Now - education and being up-front with people as they grow in their teens about the dangers (and there really are dangers) of porn use and the problems it can bring would be a far better use of everyone's time. As would encouraging people to not just feed their children tablets and distraction therapy from a young age instead of investing proper time with them and helping them develop other hobbies, interests and personal skills. So would educating people about human trafficking and the horrible stats as to where websites get a good proportion of content from - ie it is not as voluntary as people might like to think. Or educating people on the false impressions and heavy editing that goes into making a film - and which is leading to increasing false expectations among teenagers as to what they, and their peers, should be expecting to be able to do themselves, or with others. Or pulling out any of the widely available interviews and articles from people who have left the industry and been honest to talk about how and why they ended up in it, and what that was really like. All of that would be beneficial - and perversly, I imagine, much harder to access or direct people to, after this law comes into effect.
At some point we need to work out how to get people who actually know their backside from their elbow to be the ones who get to make the laws. Otherwise this tosh will just continue. A la brexit farce (and let's not go there again but just agree no-one is getting what they want or think they voted for/against).
Edit - re the above. IMO it is the difference between teaching a child to not go near the cliff edge, and why that is a dangerous idea, and simply erecting a 10ft galvanised steel fence. Protection only goes so far, and at some point they may well visit a place with no fence (and what happens then?). Educate, inform, and equip youngsters. Don't box them in and wrap them in cotton wool. It's not that the fence is a bad idea, just that it should be a small part of a wider approach - and this law doesn't achieve that.
You will only know that a frying pan is hot when you touch it, if you are told the pan is hot and never touch it then you will be forever curious the pan is actually hot and one day, you will burn yourself either way.
It's basic psychology, but the UK government (and the US) are really driving for their version of the great firewall of China. There is only a hop skip and a jump from datamining where you're going with AgeID as it is with China and their SocialID system...
So glad the Government has the time to do this kind of thing, and don't have anything more important to do....
Iota (14-01-2019)
Did I move to China recently? Sigh. I'm certain our Government and Parliament have far more important duties to be getting on with.
That's a novel idea, but it'll never catch on. To happen, it would require MP's to vote for it, and even they aren't that stupid.
Are they?
Okay, most aren't. Surely?
Well, surely some aren't?
Okay, I take your point. Maybe it could fly.
But there's another problem. It requires those that can tell their backside from their elbow to be prepared to stand for election.
It was always thoughtless worthless legislation, but voting against it would've been political poison so they vote for it. Doesn't affect them either way so who cares?
Modern politics isn't about useful, helpful legislation that improves peoples lives. It's about avoiding the big shouty tabloid front page headline and scoring points by 'protecting the children' or similar.
I am not completely against this, I remember in my teen years it wasn't easy to get as it was all pay sites. I do believe its too easy to get straight to hardcore stuff no questions asked now.
With that my son is only 3 so doesn't go on the internet but I am pretty sure I could easily have blocked adult sites either with software or proxies and I am pretty sure my internet provider will block it with a tick in my settings on my account as well.
Good intentions but this sounds like it could be implemented better.
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