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Sun Advice Columnist Advised MPs On UK Porn-Block Plans

nk497 writes "The first official expert witness in an inquiry into network-level filtering of porn was a Sun advice columnist called Dear Deidre. A group of MPs has been pushing to censor the UK web to prevent children from seeing porn, but reading the full report reveals the weakness of the evidence. It also features Dear Deidre defending the topless model on Page 3 of her own newspaper, saying, 'the Editor of The Sun thinks it's okay' and 'nine million people read it.'"

27 of 118 comments (clear)

  1. Is there more? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative
    1. Re:Is there more? by Stargoat · · Score: 4, Insightful

      How about this - Don't Buy the Sun. Those blaggards over at Murdoch's should have been sued out of existence years ago. They have not apologized for hacking phones and they have not apologized for calumnies about Hillsborough. Past behavior is the best predictor of future acts. So basically, this: Don't visit the Sun's website. Don't buy the Sun. Don't watch any Murdoch owned channel.

      --
      Hoist Number One and Number Six.
  2. nine million people by discord5 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It also features Dear Deidre defending the topless model on Page 3 of her own newspaper saying "the Editor of The Sun thinks it's okay" and "nine million people read it".

    Well, gee, this internet thing is smalltime compared to those numbers. It's a pity cablemodems don't burn as well as books or newspapers, we could do with a good old fashioned bookburning, especially with those oil prices... Oh well...

    1. Re:nine million people by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

      As a kid I can remember the Sun running non topless pictures of their 15 year old models in the run up to their 16th Birthday when they could go topless! That must make Sun readers TERRORPEADOS!!! Or have they all forgotten things like that?

    2. Re:nine million people by AmiMoJo · · Score: 3, Informative

      It's the Beano for grown-ups. With tits.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  3. I can't even by Severus+Snape · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The fucking hypocrisy. The same newspaper that uses the third page as a beacon of nudity. Why do our MP's even want to hear what she has to say? Britain is screwed.

    1. Re:I can't even by Exitar · · Score: 4, Insightful

      If you won't be able to find porn on the internet anymore, they assume you'll buy their newspaper to see some boobs.

    2. Re:I can't even by rvw · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The fucking hypocrisy. The same newspaper that uses the third page as a beacon of nudity. Why do our MP's even want to hear what she has to say? Britain is screwed.

      That's a good one! Why do your MP's even want to hear her? Probably because they are chosen by the same people that read the Sun. Those MP's probably even read the Sun themselves. We have the same going on here in the Netherlands with Geert Wilders and the PVV. It's populisme all over. They just shout out what will get them into the news, no matter if it contradicts whatever they shouted the day before. And the media? They love it! They make it frontpage news, even the "quality" newspapers.

  4. Censorship by Joce640k · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If the plan is to censor everything that somebody, somewhere finds offensive then we might as well just pull the plug and be done with it.

    Besides, kids have cellphones these days and are quite capable of making their own porn. Is that better than seeing what's on the internet?

    If we're worried about kids emulating what they see on the internet then what about the sites with videos of the Taliban cutting people's heads off? Porn=bad. Violence=good. Got it.

    --
    No sig today...
    1. Re:Censorship by bmo · · Score: 4, Insightful

      If the plan is to censor everything that somebody, somewhere finds offensive then we might as well just pull the plug and be done with it.

      That's probably the entire point. Free exchange of information is the enemy of the state.

      --
      BMO

    2. Re:Censorship by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Aren't parents responsible for raising their kids? Shouldn't the parent also be monitoring and preventing the kid from getting access to objectionable/adult oriented materials? Isn't it a failing on the parent's part if they do get access?

      BTW, Mod parent insightful. Porn being considered as worse than violence has always made me think WTF. Yet there is violence aplenty on normal television while not so much porn.

    3. Re:Censorship by Brucelet · · Score: 4, Funny

      If the plan is to censor everything that somebody, somewhere finds offensive then we might as well just pull the plug and be done with it.

      I'm offended by censorship. Can we censor the censors?

    4. Re:Censorship by Opportunist · · Score: 5, Insightful

      This. A billion times this.

      I am fed up with the idiots who try to push their child rearing duty on me. It is NOT my problem that you decided to breed. It is NOT my duty to limit my freedom so you can replace the TV with the internet as your el-cheapo babysitter.

      You want your internet "safe and sane"? Go out and buy a web filter, install it and .... oh, sorry, I forgot. Not only do you not know the first thing about this "internet thing", you neither want to deal with your kids nor waste time protecting them.

      Let the government do that. What did we elect them for, anyway, if we still gotta deal with pesky bits like, say, raising children?

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    5. Re:Censorship by L4t3r4lu5 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      If we're worried about kids emulating what they see on the internet then what about the sites with videos of the Taliban cutting people's heads off?

      "We train young men to drop fire on people, but their commanders won't allow them to write "fuck" on their airplanes because it's obscene." - Walter Kurtz, Apocalypse Now!

      --
      Finally had enough. Come see us over at https://soylentnews.org/
    6. Re:Censorship by digitig · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I suspect the Murdoch Empire (of which The Sun is a part) finds internet porn offensive primarily because it means that people don't bother buying The Sun to get a picture of a girl flashing her tits.

      --
      Quidnam Latine loqui modo coepi?
  5. Never buy the sun... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Clearly the Sun is the bastion of good morals:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBh2oAvsSSc

  6. Re:It's the Sun wot won it by Stormthirst · · Score: 3, Funny

    I think his point was that with censorship comes tighter and tighter copyright controls - meaning they can charge more for their "content". I put quotes around the content part because I suppose it is - but journalistic integrity (or integrity of any kind) is rarely practised by the Sun.

  7. Don't take them seriously by benjfowler · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Don't take what these muppets say too seriously. The Sun and its ilk (the UK's so called "red tops") are read by people of a reading age of about 9 -- about the bottom quartile of the population. And the people who write for these papers aren't the brightest bunnies either.

    The trouble with living in an open society, is that people of very low intelligence and moral character are also citizens, and are also entitled to exercise their freedom of speech. Brighter minds should (but often don't) discount what they say and think accordingly.

    1. Re:Don't take them seriously by Chrisq · · Score: 4, Funny

      The Sun and its ilk (the UK's so called "red tops") are read by people of a reading age of about 9 -- about the bottom quartile of the population.

      Ah that would explain the MP's interest then.

    2. Re:Don't take them seriously by digitalaudiorock · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It kills me when I see a copy of one of the many despicable U.S. tabloids at someones house and they dismiss the fact that they bought at as "just for fun", or that they "don't take it seriously", or whatever excuse they have. Supporting bad shit with your money is not a victimless crime. It's that mentality that led to Rupert Murdoch owning the fucking Wall Street Journal.

  8. Re:It's the Sun wot won it by Canazza · · Score: 4, Funny

    When the Sun on Sunday came out it was advertised as having things like More Sport, More Gossip and More Fashion.

    Still no News though.

    --
    It pays to be obvious, especially if you have a reputation for being subtle.
  9. Re:It's the Sun wot won it by azalin · · Score: 4, Funny

    He meant the pictures. Using the old 1picture equals 1000+ words formula the topless girl alone has more "content" than most NYT articles. Not even counting the short bio next to the picture.
    Also remember that content comes from contain, so even if it is full of sh*t, it still contains something. (Hint: it's brown)

  10. Re:Similar levels of "protection" by azalin · · Score: 4, Funny

    The nudity isn't on the front page of the newspaper. It's "protected" from viewing by children by being on page 3, which means it is obscured by page 1. I expect any internet schemes to be equally technically effective and equally difficult to circumvent (i.e. as difficult as turning the page).

    I would say clicking on "Yes I am over 21" in the first screen many sites fits this level of access control rather well. It might actually be harder, as it requires reading skills and more hand eye coordination.

  11. Re:It's the Sun wot won it by Opportunist · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I don't know about their censorship, but the Sun is probably the very last place I'd be looking for when it comes to advice...

    Unless, of course, I want to act on hearsay, rumors and gossip.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  12. Use net nanny software on the client machine by Dark$ide · · Score: 4, Insightful
    I don't want my gov't doing deep packet inspection.

    I don't want my ISP doing DNS filtering.

    I don't want my free and open Internet controlled that way.

    I don't want a Great British Firewall

    Because all of that shit is going to make my ISP want to charge me more money for the same services.

    If I don't want my kids to see porn then I'll either a) sit behind them when they're using the computer, b) ban them from using it or c) install some shitty net nanny software and let them figure out how to crack it or how to bypass it.

    It's the parent's responsibility.

    --

    Sigs. We don't need no steenking sigs.

  13. The Sun as the moral advisers - that's rich by Opportunist · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Really, I had a good laugh, then I noticed that the 1st had already passed and that this is supposed to be, like, for real.

    First, page 3. 'nuff said.

    Second, their generally, shall we say, shady reporting practice? I would call it "sensationalist", but I fear the outcry of sensationalist newspapers getting pissed of being lumped in the same category as the Sun.

    The Sun as the moral guide. That's akin to electing a pimp as pope.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  14. Absolutely hilarious... by johndoejersey · · Score: 5, Funny

    what I was most surprised to come across in my investigation was the availability, with no age restriction and free on the internet, of pornography including group sex, anal sex, double penetration, apparently having sex with strangers, women in the middle of a group of men who were masturbating over their face.

    Has she (MP Jacqui Smith) been watching more porn at taxpayers expense?