On Sun, Sep 25, 2011 at 1:39 AM, Phil Nash <phnash(a)blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:
???? wrote:
On 24/09/2011 22:46, David Gerard wrote:
On 24 September 2011 22:40,
????<wiki-list(a)phizz.demon.co.uk> wrote:
The last I heard the German people, as expressed
through their
lawmakers, DO NOT want their kids looking at porn or images that are
excessively violent. They go so far as periodically getting Google
to filter the search results for Germans.
Analogously, tell me about your personal endorsement of the Digital
Economy Act and justify each provision.
Last I heard in the real world Germans did not want their kids
looking a images of porn or excessive violence online. That sites
that were targeted at Germans required age filters, that Google was
frequently asked to remove pages from theor index, and that ISPs were
instructed to disallow access to such sites.
Under such circumstances the opinions of 300 self selecting Germans is
unlikely to be indicative of German opinion.
Unless I've missed something of importance, the stance of parents in Germany
is little different from those in any other country. The USA and UK have
both tried, and failed, to impose such censorship, even through licensing or
grading schemes; but the bottom line is that the internet doesn't work that
way, and in my experience there is no common denominator jurisdiction that
has the will or the power to impose any restrictions on a global medium.
Local jurisdictions may attempt to do so, but experience over the last
thirty years tends to suggest that such restrictions are easily
circumvented. That's why TOR, to name only one, exists.
Optimistically, global censorship is just not going to happen.
Personally my understanding of the German position on censorship
is that it shouldn't happen, pretty much like in Finland, Sweden,
Norway, France and the Netherlands. Can't really speak for Austria,
Belgium, Switcherland or the staunchly mediterranean european
countries (suspect the mediterraneans are heavily beset by
cognitive dissonance -- "think of the children" but when one like
Berlusconi thinks of the children the wrong way and gets caught,
it is all just a political witch-hunt; and when it is Carnivale, anything
goes, it is just a little bit of fun, plenty of time to be offended when
Carnivale is over. <rolls eyes> )
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Jussi-Ville Heiskanen, ~ [[User:Cimon Avaro]]