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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To think the internet should be a little more controlled...

208 replies

jobhunter7 · 13/03/2021 11:15

It shouldn't be possible to access hardcore pornography so easily...
It shouldn't be so easy to troll people...
There should be more controls before things go live to the entire universe...

OP posts:
WhoStoleMyCheese · 13/03/2021 23:14

How do we know that OP isn’t a troll?!???

AmelieTaylor · 13/03/2021 23:43

@jobhunter7

I don’t think the web is all good and the changes it has brought.

Good:

Online banking. Email. BBC i-player. Property websites. Online shopping. Ebay.

Not good:

Nasty-trolling. Revenge porn. Lack of moderation on message boards. If the cost of going to the movies, concerts has gone up down to Youtube and illegally streaming websites.

The internet has brought good & bad.

I think I'm the prime age for having lived both ways as an adult (I'm 52) I think if I could choose to live ore internet I would, however It's here and there's no fucking way I'd live anywhere that my internet access was controlled by the Govt.

If I wanted to live like that I'd move to China

StanfordPines · 13/03/2021 23:52

@jobhunter7

I don’t think the web is all good and the changes it has brought.

Good:

Online banking. Email. BBC i-player. Property websites. Online shopping. Ebay.

Not good:

Nasty-trolling. Revenge porn. Lack of moderation on message boards. If the cost of going to the movies, concerts has gone up down to Youtube and illegally streaming websites.

Well use the bits you like and don’t use the bits you don’t. With regard trolling and revenge porn, well haters gonna hate.
StanfordPines · 13/03/2021 23:55

@WhoStoleMyCheese

How do we know that OP isn’t a troll?!???
Oh good point. The op could be trolling us right now. What if I was the government and decided that the op was indeed a troll and therefore removed them from the forum? Would that be ok with you op? Would you be fine if the people in charge decided that you were a troll and deleted you?
WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 14/03/2021 00:01

Just bear in mind that a lot of trans pressure groups consider ANY kind of gender critical stance and concern for women's rights to be bigoted, trolling, hate speech etc. MN is right at the top of their firing line.

I don't like all the gratuitous swearing on MN, but I don't presume to try to get it banned. Just like I hate Eastenders and sport on TV - so I simply choose to watch something else or nothing, as I don't own society.

There's a whole load of really nasty stuff on the internet, but as PPs have said, the internet isn't like a TV channel - it's what's inside everybody in the world's heads put out there to share with people of similar interests. To want to censor adults from sharing horrible but nevertheless legal thoughts and ideas is a very slippery slope towards enshrining thought crime into law; in fact, we're already largely on that road in real life, with the internet being the one remaining bastion of freedom to think and express yourself outside of what is considered 'correct' by the mainstream - whether worthy, nasty or somewhere in between.

Aside from obviously illegal activity and content, if everybody in a nation/community doesn't have freedom of speech, then nobody does. If we ban everything that somebody finds offensive, then all humanity is left with is In The Night Garden and The Waltons.

PferdeMerde · 14/03/2021 00:44

What’s your big plan then, op, to enforce all this? Because you obviously understand how the internet works

WhipperSnapperSteve · 14/03/2021 00:48

@PferdeMerde

What’s your big plan then, op, to enforce all this? Because you obviously understand how the internet works
To go back to 1972 and assassinate Sir Tim Berners Lee!
PferdeMerde · 14/03/2021 00:48

@WhoStoleMyCheese

How do we know that OP isn’t a troll?!???
It’s best if we tweet at Boris right now and see if he can shut the OP down for her trolling.
Wandawomble · 14/03/2021 01:09

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Wandawomble · 14/03/2021 01:16

Oops posted too soon, I mean to write - it is easy to feel scared of the internet when we know there are horrible things that are easily accessed. Especially as that is what our children could potentially be accessing. I am interested in the arguments on this thread as it refers to free speech - censorship etc and potential solutions.

LemonSwan · 14/03/2021 01:27

The short answer is no

Quaagars · 14/03/2021 01:43

I voted YANBU on the grounds of there is some vile stuff out there, and all the hate such as racism/homophobia/transphobia.
The trolling of people, the sending of abuse.
Then thought about it and now thinking YABU - as how would you police that?
The internet is worldwide.
Different countries have different rules.
Then again, it shouldn't be easy to send abuse or incite hatred and should be more controlled that way.
lol

Quaagars · 14/03/2021 01:46

I think I'm the prime age for having lived both ways as an adult (I'm 52) I think if I could choose to live ore internet I would, however It's here and there's no fucking way I'd live anywhere that my internet access was controlled by the Govt
If I wanted to live like that I'd move to China

Same, I'm 40s and have lived both with the internet and without.
Wasn't around when I was a teen (it had literally just started to make an appearance at college, but nothing like it is now!)

Buccanarab · 14/03/2021 02:02

It's not possible without ending up with some dystopian censorship and control of information. Unfortunately, with the internet you have to take the bad with the good.

It's not possible full stop. Even if the government censored certain sites it's incredibly easy to find away around it. I'm watching a live stream of the NHL right now that's technically not possible to get in the UK.

Teenagerwillbethedeathofme · 14/03/2021 02:09

I am increasingly concerned about the sheer amount of violence in porn. A cursory browse of Pornhub confirms this, even just the sidebar ads are sometimes extremely violent. It’s crossing over into real life- I’m single and online dating and requests I get around being choked or fucking my mouth hard so that I gag are shockingly common. This is only recently become a thing. I’ve lost count of the unsolicited dick pics. I’m 43 fgs. So yes, something needs to be done about the porn sites.

TheLongDark · 14/03/2021 04:34

Here's the thing, if people want to see porn - they will. Whether its restricted or not.
If you don't want to see it then don't go looking at it - it doesn't fall into your lap.
If sites don't moderate well that is down to the website - if you don't like how its run, don't access it.

Restricting access or 'controlling the internet' is possibly the most stupid idea I've heard for a while.

First no one company or country 'owns' the internet.

Second we've all seen/heard how well this works in places like China where they even control what news from the rest of the world you get to read.

Third restrictions never stopped any determined person from accessing something illegal. If you're not determined to see it then don't go looking for it.
Lastly - if it bothers you so much then don't use it or put on child-safe browsing for yourself.

Are we really at the point that we want someone else to control what we as individuals do? Next you will be wanting the government to think for you...

TheLongDark · 14/03/2021 04:41

Oh and before I am done - before the internet was a big thing then pretty violent porn was passed around on VHS and later CDs for those who made the effort to seek it out and access it. It's nothing new and you still need to make the effort to search for it to see it, even on the internet.
I've been using the internet since 'the internet' was basically just usenet news groups and I've never 'accidentally' accessed any sort of porn. You make it sound like you're browsing for new curtains and up it pops... that's simply not the case.

BritWifeinUSA · 14/03/2021 07:10

People look at porn and other things you might not like on the internet because they want to. It’s not possible to just switch on a computer and a whole stream of porn appears without you doing a thing to make it appear.

It might not be to your taste but you don’t have to look at it.

Just use it for what you want and let others do what they want.

LemonMeringueThreePointOneFour · 14/03/2021 07:39

Of course... but it's a bit more different when real people are involved...

Ah, "I want things to be a bit more different": the words of a great theorist and leader of seismic cultural and attitudinal change.

peak2021 · 14/03/2021 08:20

A few weeks ago in the context of the Black Lives Matter campaign, someone (cannot remember whom) pointed out how quickly social media companies will remove content that breaches copyright, and why not hate speech or other offensive content. Proves it can be done and it should be.

Another suggestion is that when you sign up, you have to provide more details such as address.

emilyfrost · 14/03/2021 08:54

@peak2021

A few weeks ago in the context of the Black Lives Matter campaign, someone (cannot remember whom) pointed out how quickly social media companies will remove content that breaches copyright, and why not hate speech or other offensive content. Proves it can be done and it should be.

Another suggestion is that when you sign up, you have to provide more details such as address.

Why should it? Confused

And no, nobody should be required to give anyone their address.

rippledegg · 14/03/2021 09:30

YABU

I don't want 'cancel culture' to completely take over or further curtailment of freedom of speech.

I am horrified that people are losing their jobs for expressing an opinion that is deemed by those who control some media as 'wrong'

StanfordPines · 14/03/2021 09:47

@peak2021

A few weeks ago in the context of the Black Lives Matter campaign, someone (cannot remember whom) pointed out how quickly social media companies will remove content that breaches copyright, and why not hate speech or other offensive content. Proves it can be done and it should be.

Another suggestion is that when you sign up, you have to provide more details such as address.

When you sign up to what? And who is going to prove that the address details are correct?

For example people in Scotland wanting to access itv player rather than the stv player will put in a fake English postcode, often SW1A 1AA. Would you stop them doing that for very innocent reasons?

And the whole thing with copyright breeches is that they have a band of lawyers behind them, it costs money. Also there is a clear line where something has been used outside of copyright. This is not the case with ‘hate speech’. First someone has to decide what hate speech is.

jobhunter7 · 14/03/2021 10:08

Are we really at the point that we want someone else to control what we as individuals do?

All countries have laws, of course...

OP posts:
jobhunter7 · 14/03/2021 10:30

I am increasingly concerned about the sheer amount of violence in porn. A cursory browse of Pornhub confirms this, even just the sidebar ads are sometimes extremely violent.

I've posted this story from The Guardian.

www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/mar/09/pornhub-needs-to-change-or-shut-down

Mindgeek (owners of Pornhub) is a multi-million dollar company.

OP posts: