Rahux

The blogging is a great move, finally something to help me regain some faith in Labour. The obvious technical illiteracy of our minister for broadband has forced this life-long labour supporter to change his vote. Anyone with an ounce of technical literacy knows that internet filters are ineffective and dangerous to democracy and human freedom. In an age where the internet will make and break economies it seems ridiculous that this is even being considered. As for the access to pornography and other illegal content, simply asking any high school student will show that this filter will do nothing to achieve its aim as it is impotent against P2P technologies. There are numerous ways around filters that can be found with less than a minute on google, and children are more than capable of doing that if they wish. The only thing achieved, therefore, is reduced performance for all with none of the protection aimed at. Oh, and a vast waste of resources. Research shows that the chance of children stumbling on porn unwanted is extremely low and is not likely to be helped by a filter because such exposure is generally in the form of adult advertising, something simple URL blocking will not rectify. I have written to numerous people and all I have received is stock replies that did nothing to address any of the issues. I am hopeful this blog will be the start of a change to informed policy making.