UK's Plan To Block Porn And 'Adult Subjects' Doesn't Bode Well For Gay And Sex Ed Resources

Blocking More Than Just Porn: UK's Censorship, Sexuality And Sexual Health
Censored Red ad Black Rubber Stamps
Censored Red ad Black Rubber Stamps

In the most recent episode of Won't Somebody Think of the Children?, UK Prime Minister David Cameron announced that ISPs will be blocking "legal pornography and other adult subjects" by default because online porn is "corroding childhoods." The four biggest ISPs have agreed to comply — covering 95% of UK households — and, by 2014, all new and existing customers will need to proactively opt out of porn filters.

Let's get the easy arguments out of the way. Relying on network-level filtering, which is far less robust than device-based systems, to block content — that's not how the internet works. Crossing your fingers that those under the age of 18 lack the technical literacy to find workarounds, even as you still rely on them to teach you The Google — that's not how children work. And scanning the big, bad internet for a few big, bad terms in the hope of catching a few elusive big, bad people — that's not how online crime works.

Popular in the Community

Close

What's Hot