Europeans: How's the new porn filter?

[Diablo1099_v1legacy]

...So the UK is "Europe" now? ¬_¬
I don't think Ireland would bother, most places over here don't even have WORKING internet to watch porn with!

 

[Esotera]

Haven't seen it yet, doubtless I will in the next couple of years and disable it. Although as I have Tor installed it shouldn't present an issue at all finding circumvention tools.

Also I think someone did a basic test by accessing common porn sites and found that BT's filter only blocked about 90% of them...

 

[Vegosiux]

Porn? Pfsh, I can do so much better (or worse, depending on your viewpoint) than that! Oh, and also, not under UK jurisdiction. But even if I was, I doubt it'd affect me much at all because of the aforementioned ability to enjoy alternatives.

 

[J Tyran]

Not noticed anything here, I just looked and was able to check out some boobies and bits just fine. Its a good time to link,

Spoiler: Dan Bull, The Porn Minister Rap

The part with William Hague pompously pontificating about how governments having no excuse for censoring digital networks is hilarious.

 

[Not Matt]

Not a clue. Most nations in Europe doesn't have that filter, so we can still look at the most messed up things on the internet without any negative repercussions(not counting therapy) . I am kind of surprised the German and UK (or was it just the English?) government actually went through with this, it seemed a little too cartoony and unimportant to actually be seen as a serious problem that the government needed to help out on. Or that they thought it was a good idea to deprive their people of a righ, then again the right to watch porn is relatively strange. And you'll probably find serial killers with more social skills than politicians

 

[Idlemessiah]

If it has been enacted, I didn't notice. And anyway, look at what happened when they blocked all the bit torrent sites. Absolutely nothing.

 

[Trillovinum]

This is kind of like asking Canada if they're happy electing Obama now that his second term is coming to an end .

Actually this is not technically true... it is accepted to call people from the United States 'Americans' simply because there isn't such a word as UnitedStatian or UnitedStater. (Then again, I know you probably spoke in jest dear fellow carbon-based life form.)

Though to get back on topic. I am radically opposed to this sort of thing even though I'm not from the UK myself. The government is essentially decreeing what its citizens can and cannot watch and is therefore a clear violation of what I consider a basic human right. You can argue the restriction is easy to get around as much as you like but that won't change the issue at hand, that this is a dangerous precedent. If we don't oppose ludicrous litigation now, where will it end!....

Ahem... well, now that I got that out of my system. This is seriously not a good idea and as weird as that rant sounds now, I do believe that we should stand up for every right we have or wish to have. If we don't, the change will be slow and subtle until we won't even realize we've lost many of the rights and privileges we used to take for granted.
Besides, there's doubtlessly going to be lots of people that simply won't dare to call their providers and ask for the filter to be removed. mainly because what they'll essentially be asking is "can I please have my porn back". I personally know people that don't even dare to order a pizza on the phone let alone call for something as 'delicate' as this.

 

[Playful Pony]

I'm from Norway so I don't have first-hand experience with this thing, but it doesn't seem to be so intrusive and 'evil' as some people wanted to make it out to be. It's just a pointless little obstacle that can easily be disabled or worked around by anyone. Makes me wonder why they even bothered to do anything like this in the first place, but the politicians ways are mysterious!

 

[Me55enger]

The UK has a porn filter now?

Huh, never knew.

I like to think that there is an unfortunate person sitting at a desk at the NSA and GCHQ that is being forced to share my tastes. Makes being spied upon feel that little bit more satisfying.

 

[The White Hunter]

There's a porn filter now?

 

[Atrocious Joystick]

Ok ok we get it already! While U.S. citizens (Don't want to say Americans, cuz well, I'm not talking about Brazil or Venezuela) are known for lapses in intellect and suing each other for stupid reasons, so many Europeans I've encountered online are far too easily insulted. These are the ones I've communicated with, not ALL Europeans, not just Swedes or just Germans, just the ones I've chatted with. You know what the OP meant, I know what he meant, everyone in this thread knows what he meant. I'd like to see some answers to the question being asked. From what I've read, people already on existing networks are unaffected as they are grandfathered in. It's only affecting new subscribers.

Nein! This is an insult of the gravest kind and one that shall not go unavenged. I hereby challenge secretkeeper 12 to a duel that shall take place at the break of dawn december 24th, downtown Brussels. If secretkeeper 12 does not show he shall be known forever as a coward! The die has been cast, may the best man win!

 

[DarkhoIlow]

I don't live in the UK so this change doesn't affect me in the slightest. I feel sorry for my fellow europeans from the UK however.

 

[JoJo]

There's a porn filter now?

Not all of the Internet providers have rolled it out yet, so if you're with someone like Virgin Media or something you won't have it yet. It's opt-in or opt-out anyhow, so try and persuade your family to opt-out when the choice comes >.>

 

[Knight Captain Kerr]

The British Isles are in Europe people who say they aren't. But as people have pointed out it is for the UK, not the EU or Europe as a whole. Anyway, I live in Ireland so it doesn't impact me. I feel sorry for those in the UK though. This is encroaching on their freedoms and possibly the first step in a larger plan of internet censorship. And it is something many people would be too embarrassed to call their internet service provider over.


And it isn't surprising non-British Europeans are commenting on this. If you asked "North Americans: How is *whatever*?" and it was only targeted at Mexicans then I think Americans and Canadians would comment on it.

 

[suitepee7]

The UK is part of Europe, and they are a member of the European Union so yes, one can describe them as "Europeans".

while you can describe people from the UK as Europeans, and technically is fine, it serves no purpose to not be specific. it's the same as if North Korea decided to ban all shoes, and i said "asians cannot wear shoes any more". i can call North koreans 'asians', but it generalizes for no good reason, when it isn't hard to be more specific.

the issue people have with this is that this ban is specific to the UK, so asking how Europe feels about this implies that more than just the UK has had the ban put in place.

however personally, i don't care. it's nitpicking and I could see what he meant anyway

 

[Hawkmoon269]

Haven't even noticed it yet, and if it ever does affect me, I'll just be opting out right away, so no big deal.

 

[MetalMagpie]

Not arrived for me yet. I've been told to expect an opt-in/opt-out letter from my ISP at some point next year. I'm planning to opt-out. Mostly just because over-zealous filters used to catch me out at school (I remember once getting "this page is restricted" when I tried to view the Wikipedia page for China) so I'm not a fan.

I agree with this. There's already been talk that the various filters will block sexual health sites and things of that nature, it seems a very ham-fisted approach.

I'll be opting out if I need to though. As of yet I havent seen anything about it taking effect.

In truth, I'm not really concerned about the whole thing from a personal perspective (as I can just opt out). But taking a wider view, I'm a little bit worried that this might lead some parents to assume the internet is now "safe" somehow. I hope the various ISPs make clear in whatever letter they send out that porn filters will never block all "inappropriate content", and that unsavoury characters attempting to groom your children are completely unaffected by this change.

Random side-thought: How many people think a whitelist-locked browser would be a good/useful idea? What I mean is, a browser that will only visit specific domains (configured by a password-holder). Parents could decide what sites they're comfortable with their child using (Wikipedia, Facebook, Neopets, etc.) and only allow those.

I realise it's not a complete solution (maybe a bit too restrictive for teens and probably still not safe enough for young children) and that it relies on parents being able to make sure no other browser is available on the device their kids use to access the internet (app/program-specific parental controls are way overdue in Android and Windows), but it feels like this would be useful for someone.

Thoughts?

 

[Doclector]

I haven't seen it yet. I keep hoping I never will. It's a hassle, nobody should have to deal with it, and if I end up going back home after uni, I best hope that my parents found it to be inconvenient (not out of the question, it is an internet filter after all, prone to filter the wrong goddamn things) and turned it off without me having to have an awkward conversation with them.