Filth!

[sp1814]

Do you support proposals for ISPs to be forced to block porn sites?

http://www.telegraph....nline-porn-block.html

[puternut]

Probably against the majority but I so - No.

The internet should not be policed or it is a form of political censorship.

[Kromovaracun]

Personally, I've not been convinced by any of the arguments put forward for such a measure. I'm also highly irritated by the horrendous articles published in various publications claiming things like 'how the internet turned my child into a depraved sex monster' or something along those lines - they are wholly unconvincing, manipulative and I would not be at all surprised if they were faked.

[daffy654]

Yes. Those who want to view porn can easily opt in.

[youngmafbog]

Generally, no I dont. Perhaps they could make it easier for parential blocking andf they should certainly be blocking anything illegal.

the problem with this is where do you stop? And indeed how do you stop it totally without going China's route?

[Kromovaracun]

I think it's also worth pre-empting the 'won't somebody please think of the children' argument, too.

There's been an awful lot of sensationalism and nonsense spread about the impact on young people potentially (just potentially) being able to access porn.

As someone who has *actually grown up* with the internet - not merely seen it emerge and then speculate about how children interface with it - but someone who as actually lived among the first generation of children with internet access, I find these arguments utterly unconvincing and wholly one-sided. Were children in my school - a very small, remote rural school I might add - accessing pornography? Yes, they were. Just as they were masturbating, swearing, talking about sex etc. I have never seen a shred of evidence that this is a process which damages a person's psychology which is not already damaged. It's just as fatuous and unsupported as the arguments people used to make about roleplaying games in the '80s, or video games in the '90s/2000s - I'm highly, highly sceptical that it has anything like the level of impact on children that people seem to think it does.

I consider my internet-access from an early age one of the most precious things of my life. I've had access to information I never would have otherwise (see for instance the huge numbers of highly accessible science education videos on Youtube, from users like Thunderf00t). Porn is only as big a part of the internet as sex is in the lives of human beings generally - a big one, yes. But it's not the defining and overriding feature by any stretch of the imagination.

[rojash]

No I don't.
People who claim they want to protect their children should take the trouble to protect them themselves, not simply offload their responsibilities onto someone else.

[Messi_Ten]

No! Why should corrupt politicians, who are only interested in getting votes, dictate what I or anyone else should read, view, or listen to?

What gives them that right?

[4candles]

Agree with rojash, Kromovaracun, and youngmafbog.

It's the thin end of a very large wedge.

[Kromovaracun]

"the problem with this is where do you stop? And indeed how do you stop it totally without going China's route?"

You can't - and even the Chinese example meets with highly variable levels of success:

http://en.wikipedia.o...blic_of_China#Evasion

Sure the 'Great Firewall' has made access to some sites a little more difficult, but it's by no means been as succesful as it is often represented.

[baza]

no, parents should be doing it. I am quite new to all this internet stuff and I know it has many uses. Only 2 adults have access to our computers so we do not block any sites, when the grandchildren come over the computers are turned off.

[craft1948]

No, I quite like the odd bit of porn..................

[joggerjayne]

Thee are very few forms of censorship are acceptable in a free society.

The authorities already regulate too many areas of our lives.

I wonder if my pal managed to get hold of any dope for me this weekend?

(joking, joking!)

[maggiebee]

I'm with Crafty on this one - gets me in the mood!

[joggerjayne]

Crafty likes the "odd" bit of porn.

I prefer the more conventional type.

[craft1948]

Horses for courses JJ....................

[joggerjayne]

Yep

[Baldric]

No I don't, we are quite capable of deciding what we watch.

[StarBeast]

As a general principle I believe in personal choice so no. There are many Net nannies out there that people can use to block there own. Block the known illegal stuff certainly but to block all porn sites is analogous to making the newsagents top shelf illegal.

[sp1814]

I agree that allowing ISPs to be our guardians isn't the way to go. There's another big (technical) problem with blocking pornographic sites - what do you define as porn? There are (rightly) filters we have at work that block certain sites, but these 'content monitoring' software utilities use very broad brushes in their definition of what porn actually is.

[keyplus90]

Yes I do.