The Shortest Internet Censorship Debate Ever

rysiek writes "When a politician starts talking about defending the innocence of children, there's bound to be a great policy initiative ahead. That's how British PM David Cameron introduced the British porn block. That's also how the Polish Minister of Justice started his remarks yesterday morning on how good an idea it is and that it should be introduced in Poland. This started the shortest Internet censorship debate ever, as in the evening of the same day the Polish Prime Minister and the Minister of Administration and Digitization denounced any such ideas: 'We shall not block access to legal content regardless of whether or not it appeases us aesthetically or ethically.' There had been several full-blown Internet censorship debates in Poland during the last four years. Apparently the arguments against it were not lost on at least some of Polish politicians."

Comments

And this is a good thing how?

[cablepokerface]

The discussion shouldn't be ironically short, implying that 'it's so absurd we shouldn't be discussing it'. This discussion should be had extensively and without prejudice. Without sentiments like 'will someone pleeease think of the children' and 'You leave my internet ALONE!'. The thing is, we are all in favor of some sort of censorship aren't we? I want child-porn blocked. For everyone. I want sites blocked telling people actively to be violent. The whole thing is, what are exactly the limits there, how do we establish those boundaries? And enforce them? What's left is a discussion on the periphery. Outright dismissing any sort of censorship is naive. Outright implementing censorship is stupid.