Guys and Gals

My dad has just told me that the Government are makining it a criminal offence to access any adult webiste from November. Does anyone know about this?

I read yesterday that new laws made it a criminal offence to download any porn with any acts of violence in them.

Originally posted by Avalon
Guys and Gals

My dad has just told me that the Government are makining it a criminal offence to access any adult webiste from November. Does anyone know about this?


I think he may be refering to this (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/08/30/violent_smut_crackdown/)?

............

Whilst I totally agree with the idea of stopping this muck, this has got a lot of potential for the Government to really screw up, IMO.

This government don't seem to be good at drawing up tight legislation - I hope they get this sort of thing right.

If they aim it at 'sites showing sexual violence' then it's actually quite a grey area.....if someone has a fetish for car crash scenes (like the film 'Crash') then would footage of a road accident be deemed sexual?

Also, I gather that some of these sites actually pay actors / actresses to portray scenes that are quite horrific. Would the line be drawn at scenes of genuine violence or would it be genuine and simulated violence? If the latter, then there's a gap appearing in between what would be acceptable on film or video and what would be acceptable online. For example, the French film Baise Moi was nastily explicit and yet gaiend certification.

Who will determine what constitutes 'extreme' violence? What about consenting masochists and sadists? Could we be heading for online versions of the 'Spanner' case of the 1990s?

If the Government don't get the law straight here we're in for a period of confusion. I just hope they get it drafted nice, clean and tight.

10/10 for the idea, and we wait to score the implementation.

Joe

Some sites requests that you declare you are over 18 and give you an overview of the content included in the site before you enter....not that I have ever entered you understand....I always close the page when I realise what the site is all about!! :confused:

Who exactly is going to decide on the criteria as to what is violent and what isn't? I can well imagine it'll create another few highly paid jobs for some government bods.
I don't personally get any thrills or kicks from even contemplating watching sexual violence and don't go looking for sites offereng this but as long as there are clear indications as to a sites content then I can choose not to enter.
If they're worried about it encouraging people to attempt to carry out violent acts then surely it'd be as important or more so to stop the easy access of violent computer games that most young impressionable people seem to find so enjoyable..

Who exactly is going to decide on the criteria as to what is violent and what isn't?

According to the press release here :

http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/n_story.asp?item_id=1354

"All the categories of material proposed for banning are already illegal to publish in the UK under the Obscene Publications Act (OPA) 1959"

:thumbsup:

More nanny-state nonsense. :rolleyes:

Fortunately, it's largely unenforceable.