Uk porn ‘block’ from July?

[carpe_diem6969]

Hi all,

One for the hive mind...especially those of the community who are uk based.

As you may, or may not, know the uk gov has legislated some changes into effect regarding access to pornographic content online.

The idea is that all sites accessed from the uk will have to have you log in with an age verified id to prove you are over 18. Proposals are that sites that don’t comply will be blocked by uk isps.

Obviously no problem with the aim of having porn available only to over 18s, but people seem concerned about the practicalities of having to register and provide credit card details with companies like age-Id where they might be vulnerable to hacking, or to having porn sites (also vulnerable) able to identify specific users to specific genres etc.

Some might not be worried at all, but wondered if the community have any thoughts on the subject?

[Shattered]

We have to provide our credit card details to the age-id guys a VPN to view stuff.

Hopefully it'll just delay forever if not yeah finally for everyone to VPN.

[polkadotwolf]

Obviously no problem with the aim of having porn available only to over 18s, but people seem concerned about the practicalities of having to register and provide credit card details with companies like age-Id where they might be vulnerable to hacking, or to having porn sites (also vulnerable) able to identify specific users to specific genres etc.

This seems extremely dangerous, over-reaching and ultimately futile to me. The safety of this data seems highly suspect, and anyone that opts-in should be comfortable with their porn browsing habits becoming public because that seems pretty likely at some point given hacker's success in the past.

What exactly is the harm that porn is accused of causing anyway? Serious sexual assaults are near all time lows while easy access to porn is at all time highs. People's objection to porn is a reactionary/ideological and not based on actual facts/science. Political busy bodies are trying to solve a non-problem.

Nearly all teenagers watch porn and this was the same before the Internet even existed when they found their older sibling's stash and shared it with their friends.

Should porn then be made fully accessible to kids? I wouldn't advocate that either as no kid should be exposed to sexual reality before they are ready either, if it can be avoided (try stopping their friend from showing it to them though ...). I think the current situation is fine where you have minor barriers and have to go out of your way looking for it.

But having everyone register like they are some sort of sex offender is ludicrous and pointless. There are so many ways around this they are uncountable. Even if kids steal the porn off their older siblings computer and then share it through thumb drives, end-to-end encrypted chats, or other. There is simply no way to stop it. Porn restrictions are extremely harsh in many Middle Eastern countries and yet access remains trivial and if anything the taboo nature amplifies the excitement, shame, and likely the future mental neurosis that result.

A graph of violent sexual assaults vs access to porn would be interesting. Given anecdotal evidence I would say the relationship is inverse and the exact opposite of the implied relationship the politicians and other ideologues imply.

[kerkersklave]

Nearly all teenagers watch porn and this was the same before the Internet even existed when they found their older sibling's stash and shared it with their friends.

Yeah, but this is a truth that is not really accepted even in the most liberal countries. I think once teenagers start actively looking for porn it is not really a problem for them. Especially not, if sexual education is done in school starting at an quite early age. So porn is not the only information they get.

What should be avoided, is, that porn is pushed into your face on normal sites and sites commonly visited by children. But that is mostly already the case. Also, children up to a certain age should not use the internet completely unsupervised.

[polkadotwolf]

What should be avoided, is, that porn is pushed into your face on normal sites and sites commonly visited by children. But that is mostly already the case. Also, children up to a certain age should not use the internet completely unsupervised.

Agreed as I state in the next paragraph, although this is based on precaution rather than data/science. I don't know what the effects of 'porn everywhere' would be, but since it's unknown and since it could be negative, then it makes sense to not actively make access more permissive than it already is out of a sense of precaution.

The system we have now and that existed in the past doesn't seem to have caused any harm and if anything the relationship of access to porn and sexual assaults seems to be an inverse one, although that could merely be coincidental and not cause and effect. Either way there doesn't seem to be any empirically verifiable negative effect of easy access to porn.

Ironically this current thrust to demonize porn seems to be coming from the left of the political spectrum. If anything the anti-porn aspect of the right has faded with the fading reach of religion in general. What's new is that suddenly the left seems to be becoming anti-porn now too, in their efforts to tackle their new-found interest in their own set of 'incorrect thought' morality codes (as distinguished from the universal morality notions against unsanctioned violence, theft and negative social actions in general as opposed to merely 'ways of thinking'). While long established in the religious right, 'incorrect thought' morality is a new disturbing interest by the left (in my opinion). Porn is now an area the far-left and religious-right now agree is 'bad thinking', although for different reasons. Neither side seems overly concerned about empirical evidence for or against their theories.

[polkadotwolf]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/in- ... rnography/

Interesting article demonstrating the reversal of the left from pro-porn to anti-porn (as well as pro free speech into "there is no such thing as free speech")

As the Christian right has lost its power, fears of a censorious “Moral Majority” have receded. This leaves room for activists on the left to criticize the misogyny of porn without seeming like the allies of the unenlightened.

Compare and contrast with previous attitudes typical of this article
https://www.scientificamerican.com/arti ... e-of-smut/

[arthurb]

As new puritanism sweeps the nation, UK porn surfers will need to find a new kind of sexy

[Drool]

The left one is virtually naked! *swoon*
(Most probably she's a witch. )

[polkadotwolf]

As new puritanism sweeps the nation, UK porn surfers will need to find a new kind of sexy

Sluts! Look at those bare hands and smiling faces inviting on lustful men's glances. Disgusting.

[onlytropics]

As new puritanism sweeps the nation, UK porn surfers will need to find a new kind of sexy

reported!