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I just enabled the Kids Safe filter on my TalkTalk broadband. It takes about a minute to take effect after being toggled on or off or the settings changed. I checked that it is active by trying to visit an online betting site. The filter blocked it and informed me that it had done so.

Next I visited http://www.samaritans.org/ and then http://www.childline.org.uk/

Both pages load perfectly normally and are fully accessible. Anyone in the UK with an ISP that offers this filtering can check this for themselves.

If *completely optional* filtering was in fact some kind of draconian censorship then people who object to it would not need to resort to making hysterical misrepresentations, would they?

There is also the question whether this video will influence more people to commit suicide. The Samaritans have a section on their website explaining how to report and dramatize suicides responsibly.
http://www.samaritans.org/media-centre/media-guidelines-reporting-suicide

The problem is that it encourages other people to commit suicide too.
http://www.samaritans.org/media-centre/media-guidelines/advice-media-copycats-and-social-contagion

Would you believe even the counselors need counseling.

Certainly. The Samaritans, dubious as some of their methods may be, emphasised to me the recognition that volunteer counsellors must themselves be debriefed where necessary and observed carefully. Counsellors often need to talk through with someone else whatever situation they have just discussed with the visitor/caller.

However, unless things have got completely mad, disaster counsellors would still require specific and regular training, normally forming a sitting army of sorts. Also, such people would not be flown abroad for a few days!

I don't see how the MS - Linux competition has anything whatsoever to do with Bill and Melissa's charitable work. I'm no fan of Microsoft and I do avoid using MS products wherever possible, but the comparsion here should be with other of the worlds wealthy. How do Larry Ellison's charitable contributions stack up, for example?

Not everything about Bill Gates is a Microsoft vs Linux issue.

Personally, I think that my use of free-as-in-beer alternatives to commercial products does increase my charitable donations because I have more disposable income available to me. In theory it means that Bill et al have less available to them to donate to their favourite charity, but I'm not going to lose any sleep over that.

In case you are wondering what to do with the money you saved from using free software, here are some of my preferred charities. Enjoy:

• Samaritans
• RNLI (Lifeboats)
• International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies