Charlie

What is the government's real objective here? If I apply an "evidence based" approach to assessing the scheme, too things are obvious:

1) This filter will not achieve its aim of protecting children. Filters will still let through 'bad' sites, will have no effect on instant messaging, and will mean parental supervision is still essential - as is currently the case.

2) Filtering will not achieve its aim of preventing criminals from accessing illegal content. Getting around filters is straightforward given the Internet is based on inherently open technologies and criminals are evidently already skilled at evading the authorities.

So please excuse the public for being worries about their freedom of access to information (or "freedom of speech") being under threat. The government is clearly not levelling with the population about the genuine aims of this filter.