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Look, Just Give Us the Porn
Trsvis_Bickle
Posts: 9,202 Forum Member
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-28440067
Well, what a surprise that news is. Of the four main ISPs, all of whom now offer a filter at the point of sign-up, TalkTalk was the only company to persuade more than 10% of people to subscribe.
Glad to see the public hasn't fallen for this particularly silly, ill-thought out measure. Question is, what is it about TalkTalk customers that makes so many of them opt for the filter, compared to the filth fans using the other ISPs?
New broadband users shun UK porn filters, Ofcom finds
The vast majority of new broadband customers in the UK are opting out of "child friendly" filters when prompted to install them by service providers.
The industry watchdog Ofcom found fewer than one in seven households installed the feature, which is offered by BT, Sky, TalkTalk and Virgin Media.
Well, what a surprise that news is. Of the four main ISPs, all of whom now offer a filter at the point of sign-up, TalkTalk was the only company to persuade more than 10% of people to subscribe.
Glad to see the public hasn't fallen for this particularly silly, ill-thought out measure. Question is, what is it about TalkTalk customers that makes so many of them opt for the filter, compared to the filth fans using the other ISPs?
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I'm bored of it....think I've seen every pic and vid.......:D
I think it is more to do with the fact adults don't want to be told by the government what they can, ot can not, look at.
And, as tealady says, it went far beyond just porn.
I don't have children either but as I have not changed providers this hasn't effected me.
With regards Adult content I apply exactly the same principle.
What a buffoon.
They'll be fr***ing at the g*sh.
Though conveniently letting through the "Side Bar of Shame" - after all seeing which young actress is now "All Grown Up" or "Showing Her Womanly Curves" is a vital public service.;-)
Glad to see that people aren't being "shamed" into signing up for this stuff.
As long as I'm paying full price for internet access, I'll have access to the entire f**king thing, thank you very much.
If it were just a "porn filter" I could see see some semblence of a justification, although I would disagree with it, however this goes far beyond that to cover all "adult" content, much of which is information that should be available to those under 18, such as drug advice, etc, as has already been said.,
Yeah, you keep telling yourself that.
Of the total content blocked, how much do you really think is stuff like 'drug advice'*?
*clue: there really is a lot of porn on the internet
Well, I've got a teenage daughter and am perfectly capable of deciding for myself what I think is appropriate for her to see in terms of online content. I do not need a politician to tell me how to be a responsible parent.
Yeah, I bet there's quite a bit of porn downloaded.
It is for half the population, the other half use it for Videos of Kittens! :kitty:
1 in 5 sites blocked by mandatory content filters*
https://www.openrightsgroup.org/blog/2014/blockedproject
*of course that depends on which stuff the account owner has chosen to block if they are with those providers that allow you to block different categories of stuff. Plus different companies have different ideas as to what constitutes porn, and some are more over zealous than others. Plus the way they go about it isn't the same either, some just use a block list others use a block list but also block keywords too, leading to many perfectly legitimate non porn sites being blocked. It also means that if you change ISPs you cannot guarantee that the default settings block the same level of content that your previous ISP might have done.
Whatever way you look at it though, it has proven (so far) to be one colossal waste of time, money and effort for pretty much no gain. Exactly what the critics said would happen.
The costs would have been far better spent on an education programme. The ISPs could have designed a pack, and sent it to every account holder detailing the various methods of filtering already available, highlighting those that are free, details on how to download them, how to set them up and including links to organisations such as Childline, the NSPCC, the IWF and CEOPS etc. for those who are concerned or for children who may already have come across things that are disturbing.
Better sex education is needed too, with kids being taught that porn is not real life. Being taught what is legal when they are old enough, and what is not. The dangers of "sexting", the dangers of putting pics of themselves online etc. etc.
If you are a website owner and worried that your site might be blocked, you can check which ISPs block your site if the filters are activated here:
https://www.blocked.org.uk/
http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showthread.php?p=73865475#post73865475
I was never asked (recently switched), and wouldn't activate it if I was.