Opt in filter

[Interdictor]

What may tick many of us off is the fact that we are being forced into this clean feed. A proposal was put forward in which there would be an opt in scheme for concerned parents. Do you consider this an acceptable alternative?

[SCM]

I myself think parents should stop blaming others for their failures, and do some parenting instead of leaving it up to the government to raise their children.

[SnapperTT]

SCM has hit the nail on the head. But I'm not afraid to compromise. More details required....

An Opt-In filter will still add load to the ISPs, but it wouldn't be that much, as not many computer-literate people would use it.

[SCM]

Like the Internode guy said on Insight, probably nobody would have a problem if the filter was not mandatory, so I think that should be our sticking point.

[ajd]

The issue here is that the Government has changed the aim of its policy. It is not proposing a mandatory adult material filter any more, but rather a mandatory RC material filter. Supposedly, most of the content that will be blocked is in fact already illegal. Now we know that the list will not necessarily end up being as they claim, but it's hard to claim that we should create a child-porn filter and then make it optional.

(Personally though I support an opt-in general filter which can be used by parents if they need it for whatever reason. Although a lot of ISPs already offer that feature anyway, so all the government could do is require all ISPs to offer such a feature. I wouldn't really oppose that, so long as appropriate provisions are made to ensure that not all customers have to pay for it, and that any performance degradation is limited strictly to the customers who choose to be filtered.)

[SnapperTT]

Stuff, lol.

They've changed aim, mainy due to public pressure. Lets take a leaf from the Republicans in the States: when your opponent offers a compromise, shift the goal posts further back.

>create a child-porn filter
We have just have to argure (quite rightfully) that such a feat is impossible, and that if we can detect which sites are soliciting such material, then why arn't we shutting down said sites rather than just "filtering" them out? Can't we pass laws allowing law enforcement to shut down a site quickly, or raid properties where the servers are kept? There are far more intellegant and elegant ways of dealing with this problem.

[ajd]

They've changed aim, mainy due to public pressure. Lets take a leaf from the Republicans in the States: when your opponent offers a compromise, shift the goal posts further back.

>create a child-porn filter
We have just have to argure (quite rightfully) that such a feat is impossible, and that if we can detect which sites are soliciting such material, then why arn't we shutting down said sites rather than just "filtering" them out? Can't we pass laws allowing law enforcement to shut down a site quickly, or raid properties where the servers are kept? There are far more intellegant and elegant ways of dealing with this problem.

I get that, but we have to acknowledge their change in aim, and change tactics accordingly.

The key argument against the 'just shut them down' idea is that most of the sites are overseas and very difficult to track. So we need to find a counter-argument for that, e.g. why don't we all make up an international treaty and use Interpol etc. to share information?

[SCM]

Aren't there international laws like that already?

And why are they hard to track, every IP address can be tracked down to a provider and a data center.

[SnapperTT]

Aren't there international laws like that already?

And why are they hard to track, every IP address can be tracked down to a provider and a data center.

There's always room for improvement.

[ajd]

Aren't there international laws like that already?

And why are they hard to track, every IP address can be tracked down to a provider and a data center.

There are international laws about the actual crime, I believe, but what's really needed are international laws about cooperation in transnational investigations, say a treaty that establishes a streamlined system for different police agencies to share evidence or something - obviously with the appropriate requirements in place to ensure rights are respected. But on top of that, a lot of sites are hosted in places like Russia where there are significant corruption issues.