Sunday, November 18, 2012

The UK's nanny state could be a disturbing trend if taken too far.

A member of Slashdot.org made mention of an article in the Telegraph regarding David Cameron 'Orders New Curbs On Internet Porn'. PM Cameron has enacted new legislation which obliges new computer/ISP consumers to be state if they have children or not. If they do then they will be shown how to install, enable and maintain anti-porn software (which can also prevent Facebook activity). 

While on the surface this seems to be purely educational and a boon to helping end consumers the fact is the non-tech savvy will opt for the most restrictive settings. Further, many will be pressured due to society to opt-in regardless. The tech-savvy parent would know that these measures are hardly barriers to a younger and more tech-literate generation (multiple articles available online). Unfortunately, the only real protection to harmful* content on the internet is to be actively involved with a child's internet activity and trust them when they are out in the world. At the end of the day, the most sophisticated router can't teach someone the birds and the bees and children have been stashing Playboy since the Heffner first donned his smoking Jacket. 

Now that my rant is over, the practical issue is that Facebook may become less effective as a media platform once this legislation is enacted. The US supreme court recently shot down similar legislation but I expect this debate to continue for some time.

*I leave the definition of harmful to the parent's definition.

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