UK ISP's To Block Porn

[rexwantinsex]

picking up on William's point regarding the people looking at "legal porn" - who defines what is or isn't legal?

I'm not condoning involving kids here, I mean the UK has a very strict broadcasting code preventing any penetration, or even erections, being shown on TV (even on the "hardcore" encrypted channels) so who defines what can or can't be viewed on the internet in the context of legality?

If I'm watching a guy having sex with a girl and it ends with a creampie - is that legal considering it's not broadcastable in the UK?

Many watersports or fetish scenes could be classed as "extreme" - would that be legal? If so.... Lady Sonia or Miss Hybrid may not be able to operate any more, depending on where the line is drawn.

[william]

TV and internet is different - internet generally more open and if they put in censorship Im sure it will be more relaxed than what is on TV. Different media me thinks.

[rexwantinsex]

that depends.... the UK gov are suggesting to block ALL porn sites - you have to "opt in" by asking your ISP to unlock the porn sites, so what's to stop them defining what they consider legal or illegal, and on what basis would they determine what is or isn't extreme porn (UK broadcasting rules prevent penetration, so would penetration on a porn site be considered illegal under these rules??)

my main concern here is that this IS censorship of the Internet - people aren't looking at this in the right way - why are parents no longer responsible for what their children do, on the internet, in their own home????

[Dizzy]

To block a site you have to cover all means of accessing it. That primarily comes in the form of a block on the site (via it's IP or domain name), the host of the site (the service provider who's kit runs the site), the ISP through which the site connects to the internet (if not the same as the hosting company) or ISPs through whom people access the internet are obliged somehow to block access from their domain to the site (such as the IWF list).

Each level gets progressively harder to do both legally and technically without causing issues for other legit sites that is why the route of taking a site down short-term via the IWF list while legally investigating it is the favoured method at the moment.

All methods currently available have been tried already and tested both technically and legally and they just don't work. The most common work-around is for the site in question to be hosted in a country with lots of freedom laws which can't be attacked by other legal juris overseas.

The IWF is used by most of the big ISPs in the UK but as others have mentioned it relies on whistleblowers contacting the relevant organisation who then forward the dodgy site on to ISPS who then block access via a filtering system until the site is either taken down using legal injunctions or permanently blocked by the IWF list.

The IWF list has come under fire in the past though as it look down Wikipedia because of an article that contained a record cover photograph that depicted a naked child (I can't remember what band\album it was but I'm sure you could google for it iif you want to know exactly what the complaint made by the IWF was). In the end of course Wikipedia was brought back online but not before the IWF got some serious egg on it's face and made them look like a bunch of fools for being so literal in their interpretation of what qualified as child pornography.

Don't get me wrong kiddy porn is fucking sick but using it as an excuse to clamp down on the adult industry as a whole is simply misguided and wrong and shows how out of touch the technical expertise of the law and policy makers are.

As for this particular idea being put forward with regard to blocking sites I have read that all the techies have already said that it won't happen because of the technical and legal issues involved so the whole subject is pretty much moot.

[rexwantinsex]

just to be clear to YawnFuck - this is about ISPs blocking ALL porn sites, not JUST the UK based ones, this will mean that no-one in the UK can access any porn site without having to contact their ISP first to ask to view porn on their internet package

this will affect the UK industry yes... but I don't think they really care about that

this is the first step to regulating the internet, and if this happens, how long before Wikileaks is blocked???