Could Internet filtering cause more harm than good?

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A rational blog from Zack

A welcome surprise, but perhaps for once, in your area of expertise

You've made some good points. Pedophilia is nothing new and before the Internet pictures, magazines, videos and films were used instead. Just as criminal, just as prosecuted, as are a number of people today for doing it on the internet.

While this is the reason put forward for filtering, it's the actual filtering that's the problem. First there's the inconvenience of having your site wrongly identified (this has already happened in the Australian test). Next is the technical impossibility of preventing access to this material as there are plenty of ways to distribute encrypted material across the web or VPNs. However, the most worrying thing is the ease in which government can add other things to the list such as "terrorist" websites, government criticism sites, soft and hard core porn, religious, cults, and the list goes on until it finally reaches you.

If you smoke or possess marihuana in some countries you can end up executed, a long term in jail, forced association with criminals or a pleasant afternoon in a cafe. Given the variety of behaviour that will be illegal in some countries, allowing any internet filtering is an invitation to cement chauvinism and nationalism and all the crazy things governments do in pursuit of their ideologies.

I'm certainly not as paranoid about government as my American friends, but internet filtering is just too much of a temptation.

Posted by: tonymcs@...   Posted on: 09/16/09 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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