I am a firm believer in the thin edge of the wedge arguement where Governments bring in what seems like a harmless or even beneficial legislation and once they are in place, can creep in bigger and more restrictive things and David Cameron's announcement that wants to block pornography from being viewed over the Internet is the thin edge of a very worrying wedge.
Mr Cameron called for some 'horrific' internet search terms to be 'blacklisted', meaning they would automatically bring up no results on websites such as Google and warned that if the search engines didn't obey, he would have to 'force action' by changing the law.
On the face of it, a sensible and responsible decision but once the 'blacklist' is in place, what's to stop them adding in a few more search terms to the list?
'In the darkest corners of the internet, there are things going on that are a direct danger to our children, and that must be stamped out' he said but what if he or the next Government decide that there are other areas they consider worthy of a blacklist rating, step by step they will be controlling the internet and deciding which sites are offensive and which aren’t.
This is censorship coming on top of the revelations that our Government are already monitoring our internet usage, emails and mobile phone calls and with them now deciding what we can and can't see and read on the Internet, another brick that makes up our civil liberties is removed.
Nice distraction from the Lynton Crosby cigarette packets u-turn scandal though, things were getting tough for the Tories for a moment there.
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