BBC NEWS | Technology | Online child abuse images warning.
How’s this for a double-edged sword. I agree with it in terms of blocking access to these ‘child abuse’ images. Nobody needs access to things like that.
Then again, what next? The IWF could start adding other ‘bad’ websites that are covered by UK law. Then they start adding other things deemed ‘inappropriate’ and before long, they’re blocking stuff left and right. Suddenly the internet (at least in the UK) has lost its impartiality and free speech. Meanwhile, those who want access to the bad stuff they blocked in the first place have found ways around it, and aren’t affected anyway.
I don’t think it’ll be long before we see a totally regulated, tiered internet. Suddenly all the value of the internet is gone.
Maybe the better option is a concerted international effort to stamp out the people producing these bad images in the first place. There’s been a lot of progress on that front, but many of these people are off hiding in countries that either have no laws against it, or don’t care, so there’s nothing that can be done.
Eventually these sick people get brought to justice – and as usual the people who had no involvement suffer in some way.