The UK's proposed Internet filters..

[BruceVC]

I've been reading up about these measures that the UK wants to implement and its actually not such a big deal as you as an adult can contact your ISP and instruct them to remove any filtering, so Porn problem solved

 

But I am more concerned with the fact that the recommended filtering software is HomeSafe and they are owned by Huawei. Huawei is a Chinese Internet technology company similar to Cisco. They make routers, switches and other Internet related equipment. Huawei has been recently implicated in passing  sensitive USA information back to China as many companies in the USA use them products. We use them in South Africa as they are offer good value for money and do the job

 

The UK should really only consider using software and devices that are designed in the UK or the EU to do this type of filtering to ensure a level of internal security around where this data may end up

[Calax]

One thing I've learned is that if this goes in place, every school kid is going to know somebody who can break the ISP and allow unfiltered access.

 

Kinda reminds me of the US having a few cities with "No sex offenders within X miles of [location of children]" laws, which leads to undocumented sex offenders living where they choose because the only other option they have is to park themselves in the middle of nowhere without any ability to survive.

[Lexx]

Germany wanted to introduce a stop sign whenever you browse inappropriate content on the internet. There was a lot shebang going on about it back then, until the idea was dropped. Not sure right now, but it was either due to the costs or the technical aspects... And it was way too easy to get around it anyway. The main target was child molesting, etc. It spawned many campaigns about the sate should do something real to prevent these actions and not hide them on the internet.

Oh and yeah, it didn't took long for certain politics to say that such a system would be handy for blocking other content as well.

 

And yeah, just remember piracy back in the years. Everyone in school had know at least one person who could copy cds. Some did it for free, other wanted some money for it. Yet it could never be stopped.

Edited July 29, 2013 by Lexx

[Walsingham]

So, are any British forum members watching massive amounts of porn in protest?

 

I'm trying. But it's hard to make an uptick register, given previous levels.

 

~~

 

@Zor.

 

I had to laugh. You realise that research has proven that the worst possible response to news of terminal cancer is when a subject accepts it as inevitable? Even patients who simply refused to believe anything was happening were better off. The best chance of surviving 3 years past your terminal date is to fight like a bastard.

 

EDIT: I know it's cancer, not politics. But you will allow that you chose the metaphor.

Edited July 29, 2013 by Walsingham

[Moose]

Who really cares? Politicians don't understand how the internet works. Remember when they tried to block piratebay? Here was the response:

 

[A metric ton of alternate links to Piratebay]

 

And that was just one website. Good luck blocking all the porn sites lol. Silly politicians. The tighter they hold their grip the more porn sites slip through their fingers.

Edited July 29, 2013 by Pidesco
Removed links

[pmp10]

Who cares indeed?

Remember when they tried to take down demonoid and those filesharing sites?

[Gorgon]

I don't know how it's going to work technically, but without banning the use of proxies as well I don't see how it would be practical.

 

Also, I'm pretty sure you are not allowed to post links to TPB here, and since I'm now a mod I suppose I will have to ask you to edit them out.

[Moose]

I don't know how it's going to work technically, but without banning the use of proxies as well I don't see how it would be practical.

 

Also, I'm pretty sure you are not allowed to post links to TPB here, and since I'm now a mod I suppose I will have to ask you to edit them out.

 

What's this? My post on censorship is being censored?

 

Irony aside, you'll have to edit it yourself as I can't after x minutes have elapsed.

[Walsingham]

Wait, was that a Princess Leia quote in a porn debate?

 

Sweet.

[Zoraptor]

 

EDIT: I know it's cancer, not politics. But you will allow that you chose the metaphor.

 

Yep, true enough- though in the UK's case it's more like me describing someone else as having terminal cancer rather than myself, since I don't live there any more. I guess since I am participating in the debate rather more actively here I'm not in the accepting it as inevitable/ resistance is futile camp quite yet.

[babaganoosh13]

Ahhhh. The legitimate porn industry.

 

An easy target that doesn't really effect squat (and more regulation actually probably makes things more dangerous for those involved when it ends up pushing more things underground.)

[Meshugger]

This law proves that the truth is truly stranger than fiction. Jesus. 

[Raithe]

For the random interest to this..

 

http://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/heres-how-to-avoid-the-incoming-cameron-porn-filters/

 

 

 

Despite the western world being quick to jump on human rights violations and infringements on freedom of speech in eastern nations, British leaders do seem incredibly keen to restrict what we can look at online. One of Prime Minister David Cameron’s recent tirades has been against child pornography and on the side, porn as a whole. Announcing it last week, he expects internet service providers to offer free porn blocking services to customers (which most of them already do), asking all current customers if they want the filters enabled or not. If a response is not received, the filters will be enabled by default.

 

Of course to anyone that hears a warning bell when someone tries to block anything online, this didn’t sit well. Fortunately though, before these filters even left the starting gates, we have a very simple method of circumventing them.

 

This isn’t particularly surprising of course, since this is exactly what happened with the blocks of The Pirate Bay and other torrent search sites. Each time one was blocked, hundreds of proxie sites appeared. While some of those have now been blocked too, this new method allows you to circumvent all court ordered blocks with ease.

 

It’s called Immunicity and it unblocks both pornography, torrent sites and their proxies too. It’s not just for UK users though, anyone can benefit from this unblocking service and it’s free, infinitely improving its value to consumers.

The current list of sites – which is constantly being added to – that are unblocked by Immunicity, can be viewed in full here.

 

“We are angered by the censorship that is happening in the UK and in other countries across the globe, so we got our thinking caps on and decided to do something about it,” Immunicity’s creator said while speaking with TorrentFreak.

 

“We saw that there was a gap in the market for anti-censorship services. VPNs are great but they often require a subscription, Tor is great too but it’s very slow and getting it running just to browse a few torrent sites can be cumbersome. Immunicity is different because it is free and implemented in such a way that the end result is seamless access to previously blocked content.”

 

When asked about the upcoming (though as yet to be dated) porn filters David Cameron has been so keen to talk about, the creators said they planned to counter it by unblocking as many affected sites as possible.

 

“With Cameron’s upcoming porn ‘opt-in’ filter, we intend to include many of the web’s porn sites in our offering. The end result will be seamless access to pornography that would typically be blocked under his plans. When these sites are added, users will not have to update their configuration or do anything else, they can simply start browsing like they did before,” Immunicity said.

There will also be several different options for users. There will be pre-set configurations, that allow them to switch “on” all torrent sites, or all pornographic sites at will.

 

Kitguru Says:

This highlights once again how out of touch politicians are and how keen they are to be seen to be doing something, instead of actually making credible and sustainable change. Website blocks do not work. This has been proven over and over and yet once again, the government wants to implement more of them. In this instance, it’s designed to pander to lazy parenting and unfortunately, those people will probably be happy with the idea.

[Walsingham]

Well, if Raithe's article is correct then the point of decision isn't the government. It's just giving lazy bastards what they asked for.

 

The point of decision is the lazy bastards.

[Raithe]

The one thing that interests me is whether the filters will record information regardless of whether they're technically switched "on" or "off"...

[Guard Dog]

Like Woldan said, this is how it starts. If they get away with this the sooner or later the party that controls the government begins blocking news of the opposition of stories with a political slant it does not approve of. 

 

I'm reminded of a great quote from a video game no less "Beware the man who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he deems himself your master."

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

You'll take my porn from my cold, dead hands.

 

Snark aside, the real tragedy is how ineffective this will be at preventing kids from watching some particularly disturbing porn and likely just create a small headache for most people. Sort of like how the NSA spying will be incredibly inefficient and ineffective at intercepting attacks and likely not be good for anything other than collecting a massive amount of porn related data.

[Lexx]

The one thing that interests me is whether the filters will record information regardless of whether they're technically switched "on" or "off"...

If they can, they probably will.

 

 

I have a different idea how to save our children. How about better education and improving the school system? And when it comes to child pron, how about we do something to try to prevent it, instead of hiding it?

 

Well, guess that would involve some serious work.

[BruceVC]

 

The one thing that interests me is whether the filters will record information regardless of whether they're technically switched "on" or "off"...

If they can, they probably will.

 

 

I have a different idea how to save our children. How about better education and improving the school system? And when it comes to child pron, how about we do something to try to prevent it, instead of hiding it?

 

Well, guess that would involve some serious work.

 

 

No you right, sometimes the most applicable way to resolve a social problem is not what government's do

[Gfted1]

What a terrifying law. I wonder what will be next on the list to prevent to protect the UK citizens from. And Im absolutely sure that calling your ISP and removing the filter will flag you for something.

[Amentep]

What a terrifying law. I wonder what will be next on the list to prevent to protect the UK citizens from. And Im absolutely sure that calling your ISP and removing the filter will flag you for something.

"We've got another one for the 'Pervert Watch List'..."

[Gfted1]

"We've got another one for the 'Pervert Watch List'..."

If that means that those convicted of sex based crimes are forced to be on a Pervert Watch List, then I approve. Im not opposed to convicted criminals losing rights, but every single citizen? Way overboard imo.

[Amentep]

 

"We've got another one for the 'Pervert Watch List'..."

If that means that those convicted of sex based crimes are forced to be on a Pervert Watch List, then I approve. Im not opposed to convicted criminals losing rights, but every single citizen? Way overboard imo.

 

No, actually my worry is that opting out of "decency" filters will make you a candidate for secretly spying on what you do use your internet connection for because, clearly if you don't want to be filtered then you MUST be up to something illegal that would be blocked by the decency filter.

[Gfted1]

Ah, now I get it, and agree.

 

I think what alarms me most is the shock to my system. To me, the US is V2.0 of England. They are the basis for most our laws and how our society is set up. To see what I consider major violations of citizens rights (and this is coming from the guy that has no problem with their public camera system) greatly surprises me since this is England were talking about.

[Raithe]

Ah, now I get it, and agree.

 

I think what alarms me most is the shock to my system. To me, the US is V2.0 of England. They are the basis for most our laws and how our society is set up. To see what I consider major violations of citizens rights (and this is coming from the guy that has no problem with their public camera system) greatly surprises me since this is England were talking about.

 

Hey, don't blame us for your society. If we hadn't been so worried about the French more then you guys, you'd still have a good old constitutional monarchy and not have to worry about this annoying Republic/Democrat hack back and forth, and watch the Tea Party crazies go ultra-extremist...