And so it begins. Large scale internet censorship is coming.

CrazyRabbit

Taking responsiblity away from parents to monitor their children's internet usage and dumping the responsiblity on ISP's by making them block porn for everyone. It's idiotic.

First it was the pirate bay, with other torrent sites soon to follow, and now they've started their moral crusade to block porn. And all done to the cry of "Won't someone think of the children!".

http://www.rte.ie/news/2013/0723/464077-explicit-content/

Minister for Communications Pat Rabbitte has said he would be willing to take a look at proposals by the UK government, which aim to block children's access to sexually explicit material on the internet.
The minister said he would be happy to examine a proposal by British Prime Minister David Cameron, which would see internet service providers installing family-friendly filters.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Mr Rabbitte said he would be willing to examine the possibility that a similar protocol could be agreed with ISPs in Ireland.
However, he said Irish ISPs were "largely different" to the UK and that EU law prevents the imposition of mandatory measures.
The Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children has urged the Government to consider forcing internet service providers to block access to online pornography.
Mr Cameron announced family-friendly filters would be automatically selected for all new customers by the end of the year, although they could choose to switch them off.
Possessing violent pornography containing simulated rape scenes will be made a crime in England and Wales and videos streamed online in the UK will be subject to the same restrictions as those sold in shops.
"I'm not making this speech because I want to moralise or scaremonger, but because I feel profoundly as a politician, and as a father, that the time for action has come," Mr Cameron said.
A secure database of banned child porn images gathered by police will also be used to trace illegal content and the paedophiles viewing it.
The British internet industry has agreed to use the database to proactively scan for, block and remove the images wherever they occur, Mr Cameron said.
He has given search engines an October deadline to introduce further measures to block access to illegal content by blacklisting searches based on certain phrases, claiming they have a "moral duty" to act.
A Google spokesman said: "We have a zero tolerance attitude to child sexual abuse imagery. Whenever we discover it, we respond quickly to remove and report it."
The ISPCC has warned of the damaging effect of pornography on young minds, and on the relationships between young boys and girls.

MickFleetwood

Yep, rather than parents who don't want their child having access to porn simply blocking it and monitoring their web use, the government decide to administer a censorship on it. Of course you can revoke it at any time you want to continue doing what you're doing (ahem) but it's completely unnecessary and could possibly be an indicator of things to come.

BeerWolf

I got a feeling people that 'opt out' for it would be put on 'on watch' of their online activities...


Why aren't they doing an Opt in method instead?

Dempsey

Maybe the blocking of porn will be the final straw and the Irish people will rise up against the government!!

At least it would make for funny headlines in the papers!

My name is URL

He's such a fcuking sheep. The UK are doing it so we better think about doing it too. Fat mindless arsehole..

krudler

Dempsey wrote: »

Maybe the blocking of porn will be the final straw and the Irish people will rise up against the government!!

At least it would make for funny headlines in the papers!

You can take our jobs, our children's futures and our sovereignty, but take our bewbs? too far!

bizmark

need to block porn for the children need to block blogs cause "hate crimes" need to outlaw critisism against the government cause its unpatriotic bleh

Our countrys have become a joke

krudler

My name is URL wrote: »

He's such a fcuking sheep. The UK are doing it so we better think about doing it too. Fat mindless arsehole..

Our ministers seem to be employed on the basis they know absolutely nothing about the thing they're minster for. Old ignorant people in charge or communications, fat people for health etc.

sunflower27

You'll all just have to fork out for dvds.

Dravokivich

krudler wrote: »

Our ministers seem to be elected on the basis they know absolutely nothing about the thing they're minster for. Old ignorant people in charge or communications, fat people for health etc.

we dont elect ministers for the positions they go on to hold.

kneemos

Where's there a willy there's a way.

krudler

Dravokivich wrote: »

we dont elect ministers for the positions they go on to hold.

Good point, edited.

The Backwards Man

Lads, organised criminal gangs, twisted depraved perverts and fundamentalist nutjobs all over the world must be so proud of you guys defending their civil liberties.

What are you all so upset about? Everyone knows from the inception of the world wide Web, that attempts will be made to regulate it.

ArmaniJeanss

I'm not seeing the problem.
He said he 'was willing to examine the possibility' and added a caveat about how Irish ISPs are different - Surely thats as neutral a non-answer as he could have given.
An outright NO would have led to 'Minster doesn't care about sex industry victims' press releases by the usual organisations.

Cody Pomeray

In fairness, he was caught on the hop; I was listening to the interview on the way to work this morning, the question arose at the end of an exchange about the sale of state assets.

I don't think we should assume his response, which was very vague, is indicative of Government policy.

Dravokivich

ArmaniJeanss wrote: »

I'm not seeing the problem.
He said he 'was willing to examine the possibility' and added a caveat about how Irish ISPs are different - Surely thats as neutral a non-answer as he could have given.
An outright NO would have led to 'Minster doesn't care about sex industry victims' press releases by the usual organisations.

That was a similar thing Cameron said. This all came from the Daily Mail going to him about it.

intellectual dosser

Women better prepare for a lot more grinding and groping in Niteclubs....

DipStick McSwindler

This post has been deleted.

SweepTheLeg

sunflower27 wrote: »

You'll all just have to fork out for dvds.

It's not about Porn. When the government starts putting blocks on legal things, you need to be worried.

the_monkey

What about newsgroups ? have they been blocked yet in Ireland ?

I guess they are harder to block tho ...

HellboundIRL

I don't like how they mention violent and child pornography in the same breath they talk about blocking regular porn, as if it's just as bad.

returnNull

The Backwards Man wrote: »

Lads, organised criminal gangs, twisted depraved perverts and fundamentalist nutjobs all over the world must be so proud of you guys defending their civil liberties.

What are you all so upset about? Everyone knows from the inception of the world wide Web, that attempts will be made to regulate it.

thats some brain fart there..if they go the same way as the retards across the water they will attempt to block legal porn which is censorship not regulation.And as easy to get around as the ISP blockade on the piratebay...

DipStick McSwindler

This post has been deleted.

Ash.J.Williams

My name is URL wrote: »

He's such a fcuking sheep. The UK are doing it so we better think about doing it too. Fat mindless arsehole..

i thought he wasn't doing it and the mammys and daddys asked him to?

dizzywizlw

Another case of the Ignorant making laws for the Ignorant. Parents should do their goddamn jobs properly and take responsibility for their children's behaviour.

Sit down and educate yourself and control the internet in your house or don't have it.

TeddyTedson

Will rape scenes be blocked from films too?

EyeSight

BeerWolf wrote: »

I got a feeling people that 'opt out' for it would be put on 'on watch' of their online activities...


Why aren't they doing an Opt in method instead?

i agree. an opt in, basically a check box when signing up with an ISP, is the most logical way to do it.
I think they want to shame people into not opting out

The Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children has urged the Government to consider forcing internet service providers to block access to online pornography.

Dafuq
What has normal porn got to do with them?
How about urging more parental responsibility?
Sod off

Renegade Mechanic

The Internet.
A sort of "bad experiment". The only man made object ever made.... that man couldnt control.



At least thats how the story used to go:(

Celly Smunt

It's funny,all those years of fighting England for freedom and then using all their legislative templates over here just done shitter.

DipStick McSwindler

This post has been deleted.

TeddyTedson

The entrepreneur in me wants to start selling,
Porn - The Complete Internet Collection.

FatherLen

TeddyTedson wrote: »

The entrepreneur in me wants to start selling,
Porn - The Complete Internet Collection.

have you got a couple of petabyte hard drives floating around?

ThisRegard

Celly Smunt wrote: »

It's funny,all those years of fighting England for freedom and then using all their legislative templates over here just done shitter.

Many on the thread need to have a listen to what Rabbite actually said before getting all Daily Mailed...

“We shouldn't conflate two things,the reportage of Prime Minister Cameron’s statement conflates illegal material, obnoxious material, that is already illegal in Ireland. It is illegal in Scotland. It is not illegal, for complicated reasons, in England. But it is already illegal in Ireland.

Dravokivich

IrishFeeney92 wrote: »

Do we think it will actually happen?

This reminds me, must go buy a 1TB hard drive for the Imminent Porn Apocalypse

I'm grand, I've stuff on hardcopy. Girlfriend was a bit bemused by why I had magazines and DVDs.

TeddyTedson

FatherLen wrote: »

have you got a couple of petabyte hard drives floating around?

Would it not fit on a floppy disk...?

krudler

TeddyTedson wrote: »

Would it not fit on a floppy disk...?

I remember the days of a few images being given around at school on a disk, now you can pull out your smartphone and see all the porn ever.

Dravokivich

TeddyTedson wrote: »

Would it not fit on a floppy disk...?

Maybe for the soft core...

:pac:

anncoates

Dempsey wrote: »

Maybe the blocking of porn will be the final
straw and the Irish people will rise up against the government!!!

Will certainly limit some people's ability to rise up, anyway.

CrazyRabbit

A government has no right to be enforcing its morals on the masses. That's no different that how Al Queda forced Sharia Law and their morals on entire populations. No doubt they also said it was for the good of the people.

Once censorship begins, groups with their own moral agenda will start pushing for things they consider immoral/wrong to be banned. Before you know it, you end up with a huge percentage of websites blocked..including many that you personally considered to be 'moral'. Welcome to China's version of the internet.

I don't like everything that's on the internet. But we either take it as it is, or we accept a system where someone else gets to choose what we can see. I'd much rather be able to choose myself. It's a personal freedom I'm not willing to give up.

The internet is a very special place. There are no borders, no nationalities. It's just people with complete freedom to speak their mind, and post their opinions. I may not agree with what everyone wants to say/view on the internet, but I will defend their right to do so. Otherwise I too may end up being censored.

As for websites that have illegal content, well then you track down the owners/contributers and arrest them. You don't just blanket block sites as this would actually prevent such perverts/scum from being found.

Shiny

If a kid is old enough to figure out he/she wants to watch porn then they are old enough to figure out how to get around the controls preventing them from seeing it.

Tzardine

Dravokivich wrote: »

I'm grand, I've stuff on hardcopy. Girlfriend was a bit bemused by why I had magazines and DVDs.

Pics or GTFO

Hitchens

"Allah Akbar".:pac:

kneemos

Don't see why all the panties are getting in a twist,nothing's being banned all you got to do is ask to have it turned on.A nobel effort at protecting children surly.

krudler

Hitchens wrote: »

"Allah Akbar".:pac:

It's a trap!!

Bits_n_Bobs

CrazyRabbit wrote: »

Welcome to China's Google version of the internet.

FYP

Dravokivich

kneemos wrote: »

Don't see why all the panties are getting in a twist,nothing's being banned all you got to do is ask to have it turned on.A nobel effort at protecting children surly.

Not everyone has children, why does it need to be blocked by default?

flyingsnail

kneemos wrote: »

Don't see why all the panties are getting in a twist,nothing's being banned all you got to do is ask to have it turned on.A nobel effort at protecting children surly.

How about instead of blocking it for everybody the parents get off their backsides and ask for it just to be turned off in their house instead? Surely they should be more responsible for their children than me.

biko

It's just a first step to block porn, then sites with "inappropriate content" and sites with "questionable content" will follow.
Of course it's not up to us to dictate what this content is. It's up to some government sponsored PC think tank that will go along the lines of better safe than sorry.

krudler

CrazyRabbit wrote: »

A government has no right to be enforcing its morals on the masses. That's no different that how Al Queda forced Sharia Law and their morals on entire populations. No doubt they also said it was for the good of the people.

Once censorship begins, groups with their own moral agenda will start pushing for things they consider immoral/wrong to be banned. Before you know it, you end up with a huge percentage of websites blocked..including many that you personally considered to be 'moral'. Welcome to China's version of the internet.

I don't like everything that's on the internet. But we either take it as it is, or we accept a system where someone else gets to choose what we can see. I'd much rather be able to choose myself. It's a personal freedom I'm not willing to give up.

The internet is a very special place. There are no borders, no nationalities. It's just people with complete freedom to speak their mind, and post their opinions. I may not agree with what everyone wants to say/view on the internet, but I will defend their right to do so. Otherwise I too may end up being censored.

As for websites that have illegal content, well then you track down the owners/contributers and arrest them. You don't just blanket block sites as this would actually prevent such perverts/scum from being found.

That, it's one of our greatest resources for information and freedom of speech, whether you agree with that speech or not. There are forms of fap material I find questionable and wouldn't watch myself but I'm not about to go campaigning for banning it, obviously child or illegal stuff should be but as has been said a million times that's not easily gotten on google or some regular site.

syklops

I say this as someone who is able to open thepiratebay.org/.sx without any proxies or modifications, I don't understand how they will be able to implement "filtering" of porn without some kind of serious infrastructure changes. Its not a case of just blocking a load of domains, blocking all adult content is hard.