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UK Government Seeks New Web Censorship Powers
oldandcold writes "Given the recent coverage and controversy over Australia's forthcoming web censorship system, it is somewhat surprising (and worrying) that Clause 11 of the UK's proposed Digital Economy Bill seems to have gone by largely unnoticed. It amends the Communications Act 2003 to insert a new section 124H that could give the Secretary of State powers to order ISPs to block pretty much any website for pretty much any reason. Such orders would not require the scrutiny of parliament, or anyone else for that matter, because the Secretary of State would not be required to publish them."
They could at least give the semblance of rights to their citizens by putting up monitoring software and only catching the offenders. Like they do with the traffic cameras.
The list probably won't include porn, so that's a good thing. However, it will probably include hate sites. This makes it a serious crackdown on the freedom of speech. It's exactly this kind of thoughtcrime persecution that our American founders fled from those 250 years ago.
In the infaliable United States Democracy (in which I do not reside) - those people have their democratic rights MEMORIZED, printed off, laminated, and FRAMED above their mantlepiece.
The United States Democracy certainly is infaliable, by which I mean it is not infallible and is in fact a total failure.
The United States Republic was much better. Though I have no idea where it went.
Democracy and freedom of speech don't necessarily go hand-in-hand. Just ask your nearest conservative religious idiot.