Any thoughts on the porn ban?

[Lula1998]

Hate the Tories but I think this is the one thing they've done that I agree with. I know kids can get round it with VPNs etc, but some of the younger ones won't. Porn is a cancer imo.

Lula,yes girl!It is most definitely a cancer!!
It's good to hear another woman say this.

It isn't a porn ban it's a porn block, and it's a terrible idea.

The verification is going to be run by a company that owns several major porn sites - the industry is being asked to police itself.

It won't stop children seeing porn away from porn sites, so they will still be able to see it on SM, by IM, by email.

And there is no way to stop them accessing via the dark web, where they will see material that is even more graphic than that which is on the internet, and there they will also be exposed to other really nasty content - eg: drugs, torture

It simply will not work, but it will lull some parents into a false sense of security so won't protect children at all. A better idea would be for parents to actually parent, and monitor/restrict how and when they use the internet.

The usual politicians' response to technophobia with technoignorance.

You cannot block a person from viewing material online. You can only block an account. If you have an account, you can allow anyone access to it, or they can hack into it and pretend to be you.

This will also lead a lot of men to stop using the registered sites and go dark rather than have the fact they are a registered porn consumer on their records.

Stupid Stupid Stupid

MockerstheFeManist so are you essentially saying that there is nothing the state can do to regulate the online sex industry and may as well not bother?

That is a pretty nihilistic assessment.

You can try to regulate the ISPs, but that way all sorts of censorship problems lay. It's Prohibition, and the record there is that it can increase demand if done crudely.

Porn is the new Drugs. Politicians falling over themselves to look 'tough' by addressing the supply when the real problem is the demand.

Can't they pass a law which at least makes the end user have to pay.

A lot.

Then tax the buggers to the hilt?

The state can only regulate sites that are hosted within the UK, obviously, the UK government has no power to control what happens outside the UK. They also have limited power to control the content of private communications.

The government have done this because they want to be seen to be doing something, even if that something is at best pointless and at worst has the potential to make things worse.

The state can only regulate sites that are hosted within the UK, obviously, the UK government has no power to control what happens outside the UK...

What? You're saying the sites can't be blocked?

Massive fines for ISPs that host this shite?

I don't believe that nothing at all can be done...

I don't think sites can be blocked, that's not how the internet works.
ISPs can block certain sites, but there are work arounds.
Look at all the Pirate Bay proxy sites out there.
Pirate Bay is blocked, yet mirrors are easily accessible.

It's the internet. It was developed by the US military to survive a nuclear war.

You could do what the Chinese do and shut your entire country off from it and run a national intranet, if that's what you want?

The problem is the demand, not the supply.

ISPs don't host porn. Your isp (internet service provider) is the means by which you access the internet, the same as the people you phone aren't in any way connected with your mobile service provider.

In theory, sites can be blocked, but it's ridiculously easy to get around that (look at examples from countries where internet censorship is a major thing), and can actually make a problem worse, not better. See my post above.

You could do what the Chinese do and shut your entire country off from it and run a national intranet, if that's what you want?

And even then, many people in China know who to get around the censorship.

how, not who

Mockers is right. The problem is the demand for porn, not the suppliers. That is where efforts should be focused.

Have any of you heard of pirate bay? The biggest, most famous, explicitly pirate site online? That is now almost decade old? They prosecuted the creator, they prosecuted the ISP, they tried to block it in the UK but the site is still accessible, rich and fecund with torrents of all descriptions, including porn?

I remember when all porn sites had age verification or demanded credit card details. It certainly stopped noone acquiring porn. But hey, if the government wants to put the money back into the hands of criminals and the porn back onto toxic, hacker ridden, info stealing pirate sites, it can go ahead and do it. It'll force young people to learn more about the technology they currently seem to take for granted.

I don't believe that nothing at all can be done

No one ever does. That’s why this idea keeps being brought back by politicians and we have to keep having threads about whyit’s A pointless idea and won’t work. Attempting to regulate the internet never has been and never will be the answer.

And the registration process will mean the 'respectable' sites of the Secretaries-in-Suspenders variety will take a massive hit because men will not want to have a porn registration on their files, so all you will be left with will be the abuse.

It shows how politicians are not fit for the age of technology. They have an embarrassing lack of knowledge about how this stuff works.

Same with the law around online electoral campaigning. Our legislators have not a clue what they're doing.

And don't forget Amber Rudd who wanted everyone to leave the escrow key under the mat so the govt could get in.

Sri Lanka has turned off the internet - more precisely, social media sites, which for many people seems to be synonymous with communication online. I predict lots of negative consequences, some of which will be vociferously predicted now, and some of which, in a year's time, will prove to have been rather unexpected. Ditto porn block.

The problem is that the politicians don't seem to know how the internet works. A ban/verification system will only affect legitimate U.K. businesses who are more likely to be compliant in the first place. The foreign sites are still very much accessible. Parents need to check up on their kids and when age appropriate, "safe" porn sites need to be available so they don't go looking and come across extreme stuff

Concur with those who think the law is a waste of time and, most likely, counter-productive.

It's cheaper than doing what's actually needed: which is the investment of large sums of money into investigating and prosecuting the possession and distribution of illegal material.

when age appropriate, "safe" porn sites need to be available so they don't go looking and come across extreme stuff

I don't think that is a thing for children.

Parents need to stop giving their children devices which can access the internet. They need to stop letting their children have unsupervised access to the internet - computers, tablets etc. only in main parts of the house. But most of all, they need to learn how the internet works, and how to check and or restrict what their children can see. That is doable, but too many parents almost take pride in their lack of knowledge and expect other people to do that job for them.

They also need to talk to their children about sex and what constitutes a loving relationship, and why they are unlikely to see that reflected in porn.