ISP Filtering: Australians Don’t Want It

The Australian government seems determined to go ahead with plans to filter the internet at ISP level, making people “opt in” if they want to see adult sites. While the story itself is distinctly biased, the 51 comments listed after it cheered me up immensely. About 95% of them are against ISP filtering, and all make the point that parents shouldn’t expect the government to do their job for them. Read More …

I Need An Anti-Christian Filter For Google

This month’s feature at For The Girls is about cybersex. It’s a fairly general article that looks at the appeal of one handed typing and discusses some of the negative issues like whether it constitutes cheating. The article proved difficult to research thanks to the bazillion Christian-based sites out there raving about the terrible dangers of cybersex and how it’s always “addictive” and ruins relationships. I spent over an hour Read More …

Hey Hey! Teen Outwits Porn Filter

Three cheers for 16 year old Tom Wood who, in half an hour, proved that the new Australian government-approved porn filter isn’t worth the smear on an IT expert’s underpants. He’s shown that spending $84 million on compulsory net filtering software is a complete waste of money because teenagers know how to get around that kind of thing. If they want to look at porn, they will. But what I’m Read More …

Sex Panics and “Protecting The Children”

I’ve spent a bit of time mulling over this interview between Susie Bright and author Debbie Nathan (thanks to Violet Blue for the link). They discuss sex panics and censorship and Debbie bravely puts the question out there about whether there’s as much child pornography as popular belief (and the government) suggests. It’s a question worth asking given that child abuse is being used to justify attacks on civil rights Read More …