Iceland is planning to ban online porn

[HunterM]

Say it isn't so

Iceland could become the first Western democracy to attempt censorship of the internet under radical proposals to block online pornography.

The government is considering introducing internet filters, such as those used to block China off form the worldwide web, in order to stop Icelanders downloading or viewing pornography on the internet.

The unprecedented censorship is justified by fears about damaging effects of the internet on children and women.

Ogmundur Jonasson, Iceland's interior minister, is drafting legislation to stop the access of online pornographic images and videos by young people through computers, games consoles and smartphones.

"We have to be able to discuss a ban on violent pornography, which we all agree has a very harmful effects on young people and can have a clear link to incidences of violent crime," he said.

Methods under consideration include blocking access to pornographic website addresses and making it illegal to use Icelandic credit cards to access pay-per-view pornography.

A law forbidding the printing and distribution of pornography is already in force in Iceland but it has yet to be updated to cover the internet.

The proposals are expected to become law this year despite a general election in April.

More on this story...

 

[hylas]

wow. i had no idea. thats crazy.

laufey, get in here. is this really happening?

 

[refujiunderground]

damn, laufey, you better move out of iceland.

 

[xbuzzerx]

How are the people there going to keep warm!?

 

[umjreon88]

:O What happened to Democracy? What happened to human rights? Iceland, tell us!

 

[HunterM]

How are the people there going to keep warm!?

By answering each other's Craigslist ads.

 

[HunterM]

I have never been to Iceland. But I always had an impression that they're very liberal. I guess not.

 

[borg69unimatrix]

Wow. Without porn, won't it make 99% of everyone's computers there pretty much worthless? Porn is pretty much 95+% of my computer usage.

I wonder if that will force people to go back to the old ways, and start frequenting bars and public restrooms more?

 

[HunterM]

They're going back using the archaic hanky codes.

 

[G-Lexington]

It's pretty dark there for six months out of the year. Hope they can discern colors in the dark well.

Lex

 

[Corny]

And that happens when you have a female PM Surely she is joking.

 

[bankside]

In other news, Iceland announced that it will now be illegal for Katla to erupt or to close transatlantic airspace with any kind of ash cloud or other emission. Millions of British holiday travellers planning trips to Ibiza were so overjoyed that they even forgave Iceland for stealing all the pounds sterling during their last financial crisis.

It won't work.

But is it wrong to try? Violent porn is more than just a matter of one person's taste differing from another's. Banning one kind of porn is different from banning porn.

Do you want your government to make child porn illegal, or would you also like them to stop it from actually getting to your computer.

 

[Harke the Boeotarch]

Wow, wtf? I thought Iceland was too socially liberal for this kind of nonsense.

I'm sure this is another new 'liberal left' social policy, like when they criminalized prostitution in Sweden.

 

[The Fly]

Will the last Gay Icelander please take down the mirrored ball.......

 

[star-warrior]

I'm completely surprised at this.

 

[Harke the Boeotarch]

It's conservatives, usually religious, who pull stunts like this. Not liberals, unless you consider the Mideast religious wackos and the U.S. South liberal.

Left wing liberalism isn't what it used to be in Europe.

 

[xbuzzerx]

Gunnarsdottir stressed that the measures were not “anti-sex.”

“[The proposal] is anti-violence, because young children are seeing porn and acting it out,” she said.

..... young kids go out and recreate violent porn? Does something actually support this claim?

 

[borg69unimatrix]

^^^

If that's true, Buzzer, then she's going to have to get rid of most of mainstream television too.

 

[pat grimshaw]

There's a similar ban on publicly-funded computers in certain parts of my country but I don't know if it's successful.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Territory_National_Emergency_Response

 

[sixthson]

I've seen Icelandic porn. It should be banned.