Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Leaked Letter Shows UK ISPs and Government At War Over Default Filters

Posted by Unknown on from the can't-expose-sally-to-unmitigated-truth dept.

An anonymous reader writes, quoting the BBC: "A letter sent to the UK's four leading ISPs from the government has made them very cross indeed. The letter comes from the Department for Education but it sets out a list of demands from Downing Street, with the stated aim of allowing the prime minister to make an announcement shortly. The companies are asked, among other things, for a commitment to fund an 'awareness campaign' for parents. They're not particularly happy about promising cash for what the letter concedes is an 'unknown campaign' but it's the next item on the menu which is the source of most of their anger." That next item is making and marketing Internet censorship filters as "default-on" rather than "active choice": "'It sounds like a good idea until you think it through,' said one industry source. 'There are three reasons why it doesn't work. First it may be illegal under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers. Then there's the fact that no filter is perfect, and finally kids are smart enough to find their way around them.'" From the sound of it, it might just be newspeak vs newspeak. The entire letter is included in the article.

7 of 142 comments (clear)

  1. Summed up in verse by cold+fjord · · Score: 5, Funny

    Rude Britannia!
    Britannia on the net!
    Children might still find bad things yet!

    --
    much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
    1. Re:Summed up in verse by Finallyjoined!!! · · Score: 3, Funny

      Thanks US, you can't even spell Arse.....

      --
      If I had an Ass, I'd call it Fanny Bottom, then I could slap my Ass; Fanny Bottom, on the Arse.
    2. Re:Summed up in verse by Molochi · · Score: 3, Funny

      Thanks Queen's English pendant, for being more concerned with Arse vs. Ass linguistic colloquialisms, than your own legal rights.

      Keep a stiff upper lip and stay calm, Richard.

      --
      "The Adobe Updater must update itself before it can check for updates. Would you like to update the Adobe Updater now?"
    3. Re:Summed up in verse by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      It's pedant not pendant.

    4. Re:Summed up in verse by oobayly · · Score: 3, Funny

      I'm planning on writing to my MP and asking him for permission to watch porn, and how to go about doing so.

  2. Finding their way around them... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    That brings back memories. 14 or 15 years ago, when I was still living in the dial up age, my father decided to implement a 1 hour/day limit on my Internet access (AOL parental controls, I believe.) he worked until the evening so I could do whatever I wanted without supervision for the 4 or 5 hours between the end of school and him returning home. One of the very first things I did was search for a free dial up ISP that displayed ads, and I found one! All was great for a month or so until the phone bill for $900 came in... Turned out it was dialing some ISP in the Ukraine... Oops!

  3. Re: Give them an inch... by ian_billyboy_morris · · Score: 5, Funny

    It's because America loves free speech so much, they want to hear every word of free speech in the entire world. America F *ck Yea!