Am 25.09.2011 00:43, schrieb David Gerard:
On 24 September 2011 23:00, Phil
Nash<phnash(a)blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:
The IWF just did not understand how access to
Wikipedia works; a strange
situation, given their mission. And it wasn't helped by their publicity at
the time, IIRC. Fortunately, they seem to have shut up since then, and
possibly got their act together in targetting stuff that really does need
action by law enforcement. However, if that is the case, I would have
expected them to have shouted it from the rooftops, but I haven't seen it.
The IWF situation is analogous to the present one. The government of
the day called for "something to be done!" (the requirement spec for
magical flying unicorn ponies), and the ISPs nodded and smiled and set
up something called the IWF that pretended to supply magical flying
unicorn ponies. And everyone was happy.
That is, the IWF is the sort of organisation that can exist only as
long as it doesn't affect people's lives, e.g. doesn't hit the
headlines.
What happened then was that the IWF had a rush of blood to the head,
misunderstood their purpose (to pretend to do something impossible)
and thought they needed to actually do something to implement the
magical flying unicorn ponies requirement. So they blocked Wikipedia.
And everyone noticed. And now they are well-known and are widely
regarded as dangerous cretins. A cautionary tale for those hoping to
implement filters.
- d.
Thats whats make the filter even worse. Which ISP would think about
blocking Wikipedia entirely? Many would not take that risk. They learned
from this stories. But what if they use the filter(-categories) to block
parts of Wikipedia, because an IWF-like group puts pressure on them? It
is more likely to succeed, especially in regions that aren't as
developed as the so called western countries.
I don't fear that this could happen in Germany, especially after the
Pirate-Party got surprisingly 8,9% in the last election. But i fear for
the users in countries like Turkey, Egypt, Taiwan or parts of the
African Union. Especially with the mission in mind to reach this people.
That the filter, as proposed, would not satisfy possible censors should
be clear. But it provides a tool to calmly censor content with our help
and efforts. A double edged sword.