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EU Commissioner Calls For Censorship of Web Search

Posted by kdawson on from the that's-gonna-work-you-betcha dept.

An anonymous reader sends us a Reuters story on a statement yesterday by Franco Frattini, the EU Justice and Security commissioner, who believes that Internet searches for bomb-making instructions should be blocked across the European Union. The commissioner "intend[s] to carry out a clear exploring exercise with the private sector... on how it is possible to use technology to prevent people from using or searching dangerous words like bomb, kill, genocide or terrorism..."

3 of 212 comments (clear)

  1. Cannot read the article by LiquidCoooled · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I tried following the link but it was invalid on my machine, so I did a search for
    bomb, kill, genocide or terrorism

    It got me the intended results, but if this is implemented how will I find the article in the future?

    If I cannot search for terrorism, how will I know if I am safe?

    Addition to this, note that they think we should not be able to useor search the words, so if something does unfortunately happen, how can we warn others?
    "Theres a man in the back with a skimask on holding a complex exothermic chemical compound over there, run for your lives" ???

    --
    liqbase :: faster than paper
  2. Erosion of civil liberties IS terrorism by noddyxoi · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Erosion of civil liberties IS terrorism for me... I want to be able to see chemistry instructions for anything i please... even to recognize a bomb... besides bombs don't have to be meant to hurt people ! Next what are they going to make people eat with their bare hands just because a fork can be used to kill someone ?!?!? STAY OUT OF MY SPACE YOU FASCISTS ! politics should be paid to simplify the system, not to make it inoperable by addind kafkanian regulations that only a few of the people understand !

  3. Re:C6H2(NO2)3CH3. by HuskyDog · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Do they really think censoring that sort of information on the web will stop anyone who wants to build a bomb?

    No, of course they don't, that is not the real purpose of the exercise. Let me try to explain.

    Suppose that you are a politician and you are being interviewed on the TV. The interviewer says "Minister, what steps is your government taking to stop terrorists acquiring bomb making instructions?". Now, you basically have two options:

    1. Patiently try to explain that this would be a pointless waste of time.
    2. Say, "We are introducing legislation forcing ISPs to block access to such reprehensible material"

    If you try option 1, then 1% of the viewers will understand the technical impossibility and agree with you, whilst the other 99% will get the vague impression that you are soft on terrorism or, at best, hear a strange buzzing noise. With option 2, OTOH, 1% of viewers will be outraged by such a pointless and stupid idea, whilst the rest will get the impression that you are tough on terrorists.

    Now, you are a smart politician and wish to be re-elected. Which one are you going to choose?

    Of course, you know full well that in a few years time you will get a question like "Minister, in the recent terrorism trial it was revealed that the terrorists obtained their bomb instructions from the internet. I thought that you had introduced legislation to prevent this?", but fortunately there are lots of ways out of this:

    • Blame "evil hackers" and announce even more draconian restrictions.
    • Blame ISPs for not implementing the law and announce increased penalties.
    • Count on the fact that by then you will have moved on or retired and it will be someone else's problem.