Pressure group demands UK apes China net filter plan
Without the political censorship...obviously
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"All computers should be provided with net filtering software loaded - and the default position for such filters should be on." That is the view of Miranda Suit, one of the organisers of Mediamarch - a voluntary group seeking to reduce the harmful effects of the media on our children, families and society.
Ms Suit was speaking to the Reg about the Chinese government’s decision to enforce the fitting of mandatory blocking software on all new PCs supplied within China from July 1. The stated aim of this software would be to block user access to pornography; although many commentators fear that once the capability was in place, it could be used for political censorship as well.
She felt that a filter based on a government-sponsored list of undesirable websites ran the inevitable risk of deteriorating into state censorship and might be a step too far. However it is probably preferable to doing nothing about such a serious problem.
Moreover, the fact that one approach had drawbacks was not a reason to abandon the search for a solution - or to give up hope that something could be done.
"Porn addiction is a serious issue, which neither government nor computer suppliers are currently taking seriously enough," she said.
"At Mediamarch, we are hearing from a growing number of couples whose entire relationship is being put under enormous pressure through what can only be described as an addiction by one partner to internet porn.
"Porn has always existed in one form or another - but the ease with which it can be accessed through the internet completely changes the rules of the game."
This conclusion is backed up with evidence cited on the Mediamarch site that "exposure to pornographic material puts one at an increased risk for developing sexually deviant tendencies, committing sexual offences, experiencing difficulties in one's intimate relationships, and accepting the rape myth".
John Beyer, director of related pressure group, Mediawatch is less convinced. While agreeing that steps need to be taken to restrict the flow of pornography across the globe, he feels that the Chinese solution is overly bureaucratic.
His preferred solution is for a global agreement on what constitutes acceptable content, combined with an ever-growing set of interlocking voluntary agreements by ISPs to restrict access to extreme material. As reported by El Reg earlier this year: this solution also happens to be the solution favoured by Derek Wyatt, MP, Co-Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Communications. ®
COMMENTS
Pressure Group this:
"Porn addiction is a serious issue, which neither government nor computer suppliers are currently taking seriously enough," she said.
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It is not the government and/or computer suppliers job to even remotely care about porn addiction, let alone force upon people some form of totalitarian control. Addictions are social problems and have to be dealt with on an individual basis (as no two humans are alike - start another discussion on 'difference' from here on if you must) by trained professionals, not by some (malicious or otherwise) exploitable process on paper and production line.
'Total Control' doesn't exist, and should you wish to try to enforce such a thing anyway, great opposition will be your breakfast, lunch and dinner for the rest of your life.
If you want people to smart up, educate them on the dos and don't s instead of telling them 'I can't let you do that, Dave.'. You know, where are the parents again? Forgot about them did you.
Further more what China does is it's own business. Wrong business, but their business nonetheless.
*takes stage, shuffles paper at lecturn*
*Clears throat*
Ahem.
Ladies and Gentlemen of the press, free thinkers of the world, I would like to put forward a new proposal that will ensure our libertarian, open and free society remains such.
I would like to ban religious opinion on the internet.
There can be absolutely no doubt that religious opinion, moralising and dogma causes the overwhelming measure of harm in our society. From my research, and from the research of many others, all of which is freely available on the uncensored segments of the Internet, it is clear that religion, in all forms, brings nothing but harm.
It is a virus that we infect children with, causing them to believe that 'faith' and the acceptance of that faith, in an unquestioning form, is a virtue. It instills in them a hatred of those that do not share the precise same values as those of their parents and educators. It stifles freedom of expression, art, music and speech wherever such may be in discordance with its own, self-created and highly subjective principles.
It is responsible for wars, torture, persecution, racism and crime throughout both the contemporary world and the entirity of recorded history. It seeks to subjugate and control, never to free expression or explain itself. It holds itself as 'eminent domain' in its hubris, denying the right to question or counter its inexplicable 'reasoning'. It seeks to moralise and to rule where such is both inappropriate and unsolicited. It denys science and reason in favour of 'acceptance without question'.
Worse, and more over, it has become the shelter of those who purport the worst crimes against humanity; Suicide bombings, ethnic cleansing, inquisitional torture and even the sexual abuse of children have all been excused in the name, or with the power, of religion.
Unelected and unaccountable; the perpetrators and supporters of these corrupt values seek to interfere with our freedoms, our rights, every day. They want our obedience and compliance, and they are willing to kill, bribe and threaten their way to obtain that power. They will even inflict the same upon each other in the name of their unprovable gods.
People of the world, I call upon you to reject this thinking wholeheartedly, and to ignore its plaintive wails as such primitive beliefs dies. Look around at the world, and the religious conflict that plagues it; are these not the very death throes of the old beliefs that we are observing? Are they not simply doing battle to see which of their religions will be the last to expire?
I, therefore, call for a filter on the internet, opt-in rather than opt-out, that blocks all religious traffic and information as it is proveably and demonstrably harmful to mankind as a whole.
I call for an end to religion. Before we are all engulfed in its hatred.
*steps down from lecturn*
@ Devils Advocate
people ignored the pre installed filters not due to agreement but because it was such a stupid idea in the 1st place. The term beneath contempt comes to mind
Though it was touched upon both by myself and several others

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