Iceland Considers Internet Porn Ban

Onymous Hero writes "With the printing and distribution of pornography already banned in Iceland, further measures to stop internet porn are being considered by Iceland's Interior Minister Ogmundur Jonasson. From the article: "Iceland is taking a very progressive approach that no other democratic country has tried," said Professor Gail Dines, an expert on pornography and speaker at a recent conference at Reykjavik University. "It is looking a pornography from a new position — from the perspective of the harm it does to the women who appear in it and as a violation of their civil rights.""

Comments

What do we lose?

[concealment]

Again, I will defy popular opinion and make my unfashionable point:

What do we lose, if porn is banned?

Speech is political or social commentary, which is what actually needs to be protected. If porn gets banned, we don't lose anything that will improve our society. If politicians attack political and social speech as porn, it must be defended there, as it has been in past court cases like the ones legalizing Ulysses and Naked Lunch. However, political speech is much more easily censored by having six media companies control the news who refuse to report on certain things.

I think "free speech" as we want to practice is now is an illusion. It has a very bad consequence, which is that the signal-to-noise ratio becomes almost all noise. Even more, it prevents us from having a community with standards. When porn is common, everyone gets desensitized to porn and lets it shape their worldview.

In the name of freedom of speech, expression, etc. we have permitted ourselves to become crass and to support outright destructive ideas, and in fact force them on others, just to prove we're "open-minded" and that we like government and big media are supporters of freedom, liberty, peace, sexual liberation, diversity, porn, etc.

Porn is bad for the mind

[Anonymous Coward]

In excess and over time, porn disrupts the mind. Masturbation can also lead to further disruption as it depletes vital vitamins and minerals that must be replenished afterwards. While moderation appears to be important, porn and the acts it creates seem entirely unnecessary and contrary to our natural being.

Re:fuck you iceland.

[ByOhTek]

Sorry, but cleaning toilets doesn't involve having pictures/videos of you doing acts you'd rather keep private, with people you'd rather not do them with, around.

There's a huge difference between having sex (or even just appearing naked in front of people) and cleaning a toilet, to a lot of people.