Slashdot Mirror
UK Mobile ISP Blocks VPN, Citing Access To Porn
New submitter santosh.k83 writes with this snippet: "TorrentFreak has learned that VPN provider iPredator is already blocked under the 'adult filter' of some, if not all, mobile providers. TorrentFreak has seen communication between the mobile provider GiffGaff and iPredator which makes it clear that the VPN's website is blocked because it allows kids to bypass the age restrictions. Based on the above it is safe to say that censorship is a slippery slope, especially without any oversight. VPNs are used for numerous purposes and bypassing age restrictions is certainly not the most popular one. If this holds up then proxy services and even Google's cache may soon be banned under the same guise."
When are they going to figure out that they're not qualified to make public policy on technology matters? Censorship sucks (and doesn't work), filtering doesn't work. Here's a suggestion for you instead: How about you get parents to actually pay attention to what their kids are doing instead of making the internet tougher and more annoying to use for everyone?
Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
Or the spooks have been putting a bit of pressure on the CEO's. You would be surprised what you can do with a bit of information regarding the lifestyle of board members of an ISP.
Even if opt-out, this is NOT acceptable, NOT negotiable.
This is parasitic madness and shall be treated as such.
Yes, I'm on giffgaff and have turned off all restrictions. It's mostly to do with Camoron wanting all UK ISPs to 'think of the children' and opt out of censorship.
If our Prime Minister gets what he wants it's going to be an awkward time for people who host a lot of different types of website. Many that allow users to submit their own content such as forums may be blocked too, perhaps even slashdot.
That said, if the blocks are too tight then most people will opt out, but this censorship needs to be nipped in the bud before it gets too out of control. At the beginning it's marketed as a way of keeping children safe from porn and other possible controversial content, but when the infrastructure is in place it'll be easy to block anything the government doesn't want.
Few people know they can do so. For the vast majority, there's no option but the default.
The creatures outside looked from Alt-Right to Antifa; but already it was impossible to say which was which.
It's mostly to do with Camoron wanting all UK ISPs to 'think of the children' and opt out of censorship.
Anyone who uses a 'best interests of the children' argument should be immediately shipped to an island populated entirely by other people just like them.
They are invariably the lowest form of scum humanity has to offer, worse even than rapists and murderers... because at least you know where you stand with them, and you know they're evil. "For the children" people are just as evil, but they wrap themselves in robes and go about talking about how holy they are. Put them all on the island, setup cameras, and wait.
I assure you, within a few months... most of them will be dead, because they'll all be trying to one-up each other with dogmatic proclaimations... and invariably when you have a high concentration of such ideology... people start dying. A lot.
#fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
The tighter the filter, the more people will be annoyed by it and turn it off. And if it really were strictly a porn filter, people might be too embarrassed to opt-out. Now everyone has plausible deniability: "I need to run a VPN for work" or whatever.
Naked people loving each other = bad, extreme violence on tv = okay, snafu.
Tomorrow is another day...
In the beginning it was "Think of children". In my country they drived throw illegal censorship (Our constitution denies censorship). They claimed it would be overseen, etc... It wold only effect servers not in our country.. Today its used for much more then just what it was originally intended. It censors sites critical to to this censorship system, it censors pirate sites (not even claimed to distribute child related material), etc... Censorship is such a dangerous road. Once you take the first step, its so easy to take another and then another and then another.... Until you are light year away from what was originally intended. Theres no oversight of system. List is classified, Who manages that list is classified, and theres no court oversight of it. So if you are wrongly places on censor list, theres no way to get out. It volantery system for ISP to be part of, except if you dont implement it volantery theres law we can make it... Personally i believe its problem of democracy. Too many old folks on power that dont understand modern world. They think sweeping problem under the rug is doing something, because that seemed to work in past. Child related issues will not go away if you put them under the rug, you need to take action... Unfortunately censorship is the wrong choice of action. Smoke and mirror trick that leaves problem un-handled..
however, when we old-timers made due juuust fine with our dads' stash of Playboys, and turned out well enough.
For what its worth, that stash of playboy's is not the same as the porn online.
Going online is like finding your dad's stash of hardcore gangbang masochistic anal humiliation fetish porn. Except my dad didn't have a stash of that. So although I was exposed to porn as a kid, it wasn't anything like that. And frankly, I'm not sure kids starting to look at porn should be dropped headfirst into the deep-end of the porn-pool.
It would be nice if one could somehow start with "playboy",and then move up from there in the modern world. The main pages of modern internet porn hubs are crammed full of stuff that doesn't look like fun, doesn't look pleasurable, and that most people don't find the least bit erotic or sexy. A lot of it is pretty grotesque.
Its like learning about food and the pleasures of eating by watching eating contests, food related clips from fear factor and jackass, followed by someone getting their stomach pumped, then someone popping mentos and rootbeer, then 2 girls 1 cup.
I don't object to the stuff that's online existing, or that its legal, or that some people choose to produce and consume it, or that some people get off on it.
But when an 8 or 12 or however old kid starts to be curious about sex and porn... I'd prefer they not have to be subjected straight to that on the first day out.
If only there were some way of monitoring or teaching a child as they grow up. I know, we could appoint one or two adults who would be responsible for looking after the child, teaching them right from wrong, preventing them from doing some things, encouraging them to do other things.
And I suggest this be named "parenting".
I'm pretty sure this would work out much better for everyone instead of having a secret list of web sites you can't access without gov't permission.
I wonder what the percentage of blocked sites is that don't actually have most people would consider "porn" on them is up to on this secret list? 10%? 20%?
Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
Yep, switched mobile provider lately and got opted in. Went to a news story about some new Lego product, clicked the link to view pics of it
YOUR ADULT CONTENT FILTER PROHIBITS YOU FROM VIEWING THIS MATERIAL
Lego. Fucking Lego for god damn sake. I cannot fucking view pictures of a Lego set, because of a fucking opt out porn filter I never wanted.
All opt-out filters must fucking die.