Finnish Censorship Expanding

Thomas Nybergh lets us know about the secret list maintained by the Finnish National Bureau of Investigation, containing an estimated 1,700 foreign "child pornography'" sites. These are mostly in the US and the EU, and certainly not all of them contain child porn or even links to it. Finnish ISPs are required by law to block access to sites on the list, according to The Register. Finland's EFF has information about the block list, which reportedly includes a musical instrument store, a doll store, and a site of Windows tips in Thai. Recently added to the list — which by law should contain only child pornography sites — is the text-only site of a Finnish free-speech advocate who criticizes the censorship law. Evading the ISPs' block is trivial, of course.

Comments

Re:If a sexually explicit tree falls in a forest..

[corbettw]

This whole situation reminds me of Duty Call formations when I was in the Marines. Ever notice how, at least some of the time, when you showed up at one of those spots, the officers from the ship had already beaten you to it? I had one JO (Junior Officer for you non-Navy types) that I worked for tell me flat out that he and his roommate put the name of their favorite bar in Hong Kong on the list, because they didn't want to end up drinking with the same guys they'd been working with for the previous four months at sea. Can't say I could blame 'em, and at least they were good sports about it and bought a round for the four of us who crashed their little party.