December 7th, 2008
Dear Internet Censors
So I discovered this morning, via reddit, that the UK government has decided it’s a good idea to censor the Internet in the name of protecting us all from child pornography. I didn’t realize it before, but in the UK any image of a naked child counts as porn — no matter the context. Those family photos of the new baby getting a bath? Porn. Plus, if you email them to the grandparents, you are now a child porn distributor. Ridiculous.
The photograph above is by Huỳnh Công Út taken of a nine-year-old girl running after being burned in a napalm attack during the Vietnam war.
I’m rather glad my wife and I have recently decided it’s time to leave. Any suggestions as to where we should go?
December 7th, 2008 at 8:08 pm
I’ve heard it’s nice in New Zealand…
December 7th, 2008 at 8:31 pm
If you find some bastion of sanity in this world, let me know where it is so I can move there too.
December 7th, 2008 at 9:14 pm
To clarify the law on this (IANAL): under the Protection of Children Act 1978, it’s an offence to possess or distribute indecent photographs of children. The same section of that act also provides a statutory defence of having a legitimate reason to possess/distribute the photographs (legitimate reason has presumably since been clarified by the courts, but I’m not bored enough to look that up, but it will include things such as (innocent) photos of your babies, news images such as the one in the comic, etc).
So, while you would technically commit an offence by having or distributing the photos, you’d never get prosecuted (or, if you did, it’d be laughed out of court). In the same manner, if you drive a vehicle on a road without all your documentation (two part license, insurance details, etc) with you, you’re committing an offence; it’s a statutory defence that you have the documentation some place else, and will produce it as soon as practicable.
Also, I don’t think the government was directly involved with the filtering. The IWF is a non-governmental organisation (in fact, it’s a charity), and the ISP’s involvement with them is voluntary rather than legally required, as far as I know.
Apologies if this seems a bit trollish; I normally enjoy the comics, the commentary of this one just seemed rather misinformed
December 7th, 2008 at 9:25 pm
@ Chris:
Don’t feel trollish! I’d rather be corrected than hold an incorrect view.
As for a ‘technical’ offense — I think the idea is crazy. If the law is written in such a way that photographing my own, naked children is technically illegal that is a very, very poorly written law. I shouldn’t have to depend on the good will of a judge to throw that out of court. Perhaps the judge is biased against me in another way, or just going through a divorce and not in a friendly mood.
You are correct that it’s not the government directly filtering these results, but my understanding is that the government ‘recommended’ that the ISP adopt filtering. If it’s anything like at the schools where I’ve worked, a government recommendation is all but law.
December 7th, 2008 at 9:59 pm
Well don’t come to Australia they are trying to put in a filter here to, that will block all porn unless you opt-out, even when you opt-out their will still be sites that will be blocked, bomb-making etc, god forbid some user content-created chemistry site post details of how to make some component in a bomb.
But even then you have opted-out so you can bet you will be watched.
December 7th, 2008 at 10:49 pm
@Chris the legal status of this filtering is explained here – https://publicaffairs.linx.net/news/?p=497
December 7th, 2008 at 11:01 pm
Thanks for the link, GoddersUK. It’s what I suspected: the government says the censoring is voluntary, but if the companies don’t do it, it will become law.
December 8th, 2008 at 12:42 am
Norway, 70% Atheism rate apparently
Iceland is nice, top in many things
, also highest percentage agreement with evolution. However, they’re all dirty terrorists if you listen to our govt.
December 8th, 2008 at 12:51 am
Yeah, anywhere around Scandinavia’s fine…
December 8th, 2008 at 12:55 am
You could always look at Canada. I like it alot. It’s got some problems, but it has lots of good things going for it.
December 8th, 2008 at 2:12 am
I second the call for New Zealand! I moved there after three years in Japan and having spent the first 26 years of my life in the UK. NZ seems to have all of the best bits from the UK of the 1950’s (chat’s with the neighbour over the garden fence, breaks for morning tea at work, clean and spacious suburbs, etc) without too much of the worse (rabid racism, colonial bigotry, etc) and a charming and infectious pride in the physical beauty and twin spiritual heritage of the land. After 8 years in London and 3 in Tokyo, it took me a long time to adjust to people in shops asking me how I was, and _meaning_ it, genuinely wanting to know how my day has been and wishing me well.
December 8th, 2008 at 2:15 am
Why not, oh… I don’t know, work against the law instead of just throwing up your hands and abandoning the country? While I’m sure you may have other reasons, I have to admit I find it silly that *this* would be enough to make you glad to move. Way to just give up.
December 8th, 2008 at 8:58 am
@WG: “If the law is written in such a way that photographing my own, naked children is technically illegal that is a very, very poorly written law. I shouldn’t have to depend on the good will of a judge to throw that out of court.”
Please don’t get me wrong here: I also get apoplectic about stupid laws which have unintended consequences that a bit of clear thinking could have foreseen; about encroachments against freedom to satisfy populist paranoia; about governments spying on its own citizens; about OTT panic reactions to suspected child abuse. Remember the case of Julia Somerville? (http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_19951105/ai_n14016171). BTW it’s worthy re-reading that article from the Independent. Quotes like: “If you are taking naked pictures of a seven-year-old, which seems older than usual, you are playing with fire – not because you are necessarily doing anything indecent, but because it might be construed that way.” That from a QC in child law. FSM help us.
And yet … there is a lose/lose situation here. Contrary to tabloid wisdom, most child abuse is perpetrated within the family. (What’s more it’s not difficult to find a plausible mechanism of ‘cultural inheritance’ that explains this.) How should the line be drawn to balance the inconvenience of the many against lifelong-damage to the few?
December 8th, 2008 at 9:41 am
Memo to self: THINK before engaging mouth/keyboard. Just been reading a bit more about this IWF stupidity, eg BadScience forum and http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2008/dec/08/internet?commentpage=1
The last question in my previous post is still a valid one. But this is not the issue to hang it on.
December 8th, 2008 at 9:47 am
Canada. We have all the positives, advantages, and benefits of being in the US – the quick media, the rapid access, to TV shows, the easy shipping from Amazon.com, while none of the downsides.
We have gay marriage, decriminalized marijuana, but more importantly than any of those we have an overall sense of safety, stability, and reliability that you just can’t find in many places around the world. Yes, we pay more than the average Joe in taxes. Yes, more often than not we find no pride nor pleasure in our leadership. And yes, no matter how hard we try we never get recognized on the world stage as anything other than the UK’s overambitious step-daughter or the USA’s overcourageous step-cousin. But it all doesn’t matter. When we look around the world we see some countries sinking under the weight of their own citizens lofty expectations, and other countries bottoming out at their subjects’ inferiority complex. While we – sometimes smugly – but mostly humbly look around – and see a country with definite and realistic flaws, but ones that we are ready to tackle on and fix, while never letting go of what made us great in the past, and what will continue to make us great in the future.
On a more personal note, I would highly recommend Vancouver. Vancouver is highly multi-cultural in that pretty much nobody that lives here is actually FROM here. It takes genuine effort to find someone actually born in this wonderful, beautiful, and majestic city. And yet, with that being said, this is a beautiful and singularly unique city where one can truly (as the ads proclaim) go swimming in the ocean and skiing in the mountains in the course of the same day.
We are smug, yes. We are humble, yes. We are a cities of dichotomies as diverse as the cultures that populate us. We are multicultural and open-minded. We are judgmental and clique-y. We eat more sushi than the japanese.
I could go on. I almost wish I would, but it’s 1:46am in our fair GMT -8:00 pacific time zone, and I have work tomorrow morning. Consider this, do the proper research, and I know you’ll make the right decision.
December 8th, 2008 at 11:34 am
speaking of pictures of nude children, saw this today too
“Cartoon porn kids are people, judge says in Simpsons porn case”
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,24767202-2,00.html
December 8th, 2008 at 11:59 am
While this photograph is not pornography, it is certainly obscene. Perhaps the lawmakers over there got confused.
December 8th, 2008 at 5:30 pm
Ireland. Great country. I moved here from Va 12 years ago. People are amazing, weather is not great but lifestyle makes up for the rest.
December 8th, 2008 at 6:04 pm
Looks like Australia is out for other reasons, too:
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,24767202-2,00.html
December 8th, 2008 at 7:03 pm
Won’t somebody please think of the children!?!?!?
Fuck pedophiles, nothing is worth or calls for censorship on the level described by the aforementioned article. Besides, there is NOTHING you can do about the problem, at all. Anyone involved in IT or active in the downloading communities will tell you this; like health care, we have had a taste of a good idea, and it’s here to stay.
The freedom of information is here to stay, I will fight to my death coding to defend it.
December 8th, 2008 at 9:51 pm
We moved to New Zealand recently. The internet’s a bit hit or miss here but the weather and quality of life more than make up for it. It’s great! (And we still drive on the left)
December 9th, 2008 at 12:38 am
This is a wonderful example of how crazy the implementation of the IWF’s ‘potentially illegal’ phrasing. Everything has ‘potential’ of some sort. Every male in the world is a ‘potential’ rapist on this basis but I wouldn’t advocate locking eveny man and boy up just in case!
(Vancouver sounds nice …)
December 9th, 2008 at 1:15 am
Well. The Simpsons and most other cartoons showing physical abuse of children, ie Homer “strangling” Bart are now child pornography under New South Wales law in Australia since abuse of children does not have to be of a sexual nature to be counted as child porn. (And the recent ruling that cartoon characters are people when it comes to child porn).
This is just getting stupid.
December 9th, 2008 at 2:54 am
Kiwiland is looking pretty appealing right now.
December 9th, 2008 at 6:17 am
I guess if you do go to NZ your blog title gathers a whole new relevance (just move to your namesake)
In fact on first visiting this domain I assumed NZ provenance.
Seriously though, I think I would recommend Canada from what I hear, likely Toronto. So long as you can handle all that space and a long cold winter with a ton of snow.
December 9th, 2008 at 10:39 am
Not everywhere in Canada has decriminalized marijuana, and even places that *have* decriminalize it still treat it as though it were criminal in the courts, so it is de facto not decriminalized even where it has been. Vancouver is quite different from most of the rest of Canada in this regard. But even so — just a few weeks ago there was a major bust in Vancouver and that was of medical marijuana users even! If the government cannot keep from cracking down on the class of supposedly legal marijuana users, do *not* expect them to not crack down on you.
December 9th, 2008 at 8:37 pm
I understand the Danes are the happiest population on the planet. Maybe there’s a reason for that.
December 10th, 2008 at 7:37 am
South Africa
December 10th, 2008 at 6:35 pm
The young lady in the photo is now a citizen of Ajax, Ontario. (all thanks to Wikipedia).
Ontario’s a pretty cool place, and Ajax is within easy reach of the lake, downtown Toronto, etc. Go for it.
December 12th, 2008 at 2:40 pm
Don’t leave!!
Britain’s just been voted one of the most secular nations on earth, and there is even rumour that children are starting to receive a real education in schools. Please stay and help us keep it that way!
December 13th, 2008 at 9:41 am
Vancouver, Canada. You will NOT regret it. If you’ve been here, you know why (and if it was rainy, give it a chance.)
In all honesty, contact me if you want to know more (Plus, ex-pats or Americans by way of the UK or whatever it is you are, are accepted well here. We even have the Queen on our money, but more liberal views on things like censorship!)
December 14th, 2008 at 5:01 am
NZ is lovely, but we don’t have proper cheap broadband, and our new government is sorta nuts. I’ve heard nice things about Canada, but that accent is pretty hardcore, eh.
December 15th, 2008 at 2:49 am
What about the good ol’ US? We’re not all so bad, and you could move to San Francisco and hang out with all of us gay-loving tree-hugging hipsters
December 17th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
Definetly not Brazil, as we are about to pass a law making us more like the UK (in a bad way)
December 18th, 2008 at 2:35 am
YOU SHOULD MOVE TO THE MOON!!!
December 18th, 2008 at 3:27 pm
China! Definitely China.
December 29th, 2008 at 1:48 pm
I understand that Scandinavia has happy people with very little theistic mumbo jumbo. I had thought seriously about moving there if GW won the election, but it’s still a bailout option for me and mine. Best of luck with your search, though.
December 30th, 2008 at 1:19 pm
It’s very interesting to read that the majority of the posters are suggesting Canada and New Zealand. They are the top two places my wife and I are thinking about. Although the slowness of the Internet in NZ is a great concern to myself and my wife…
@ Daniel Grosvenor: as a physics teacher here, I can assure you that I see no changes for the better. The English science education is appallingly bad, and the ‘physics’ taught is hardly better than a bunch of eco-buzzwords.
Anyone out there know of the Canadian or New Zealand science curriculums are any better?
December 30th, 2008 at 8:01 pm
How about Hong Kong? You’d have to pick up Mandarin to really pull it off, but 1 in 3 speak English. They’re supposed to have a great education system as well. Anyway, I’m very interested in this discussion.
@Spence
You didn’t leave a way to contact you. I’d love more info on what exactly needs to be done to move from country to country.
December 30th, 2008 at 9:26 pm
Hong Kong was also high on the list. I’d love to learn Mandarin — but I have to admit that I find the idea of living in China still a bit scary. (Yes, I know it’s not like the rest of China, but no matter how you define it, it’s still China)
January 10th, 2009 at 2:18 am
The NZ curriculum is online of course … http://nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz/the_new_zealand_curriculum/learning_areas/science will show you what is in “Science”. I also know a couple of secondary teachers, including one Science one, so I can ask around with any specific questions if you have them. Generally permanent jobs are advertised in October, for a February term one start.
The Internet in NZ is not too bad, as long as you don’t depend on individual low-latency high-bandwidth connections overseas. I can get anywhere in NZ for <100ms, but nowhere overseas for <250ms (on average). Makes most online games difficult, however VoIP federated through a local provider is OK. Straight download speed from a random international location can be slow (75kbps) but content delivery networks like akamai are present onshore so you can often get full speed. The worst aspect at the moment is that the two largest ISPs basically refuse to peer with anyone, so being a content provider can be tricky. However, there are always ways to maximise what’s available.
NZ is not a religious stronghold; the 2006 census records 55.6% claiming “a Christian religion”, down from 60.6% in 2001. “No religion” has increased from 29.6% to 34.7%. (source: Statistics New Zealand http://www.stats.govt.nz/NR/rdonlyres/5F1F873C-5D36-4E54-9405-34503A2C0AF6/0/quickstatsaboutcultureandidentity.pdf )
Becoming an NZ resident requires some work with the Immigration department, http://www.immigration.govt.nz/. It’s probably easier to go to NZ House just off Trafalgar Square and talk to the office directly. However, I guess you’d be looking at the “Skilled Migrant” category .. http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migrant/stream/work/skilledmigrant/ – you’ll get extra points for not moving to Auckland; I agree with that! But then again, I’m much more a fan of the South Island anyway …
January 11th, 2009 at 8:54 am
Wow, Jim, thanks for the great, first-hand reply.
I do have concerns about latency as my parents who live in the Confederacy have gotten quite used to video chatting — but I assume with the slow speed and high latency that won’t be practical.
The science page is interesting, but vague. I don’t suppose you or your science teacher friend know where I could download the equivalent to GCSE-level tests?
Thanks again.
January 29th, 2009 at 11:03 pm
Internet in New Zealand does get painfully slow, and is far more expensive than it needs to be. As a rule though, if you are awake at midnight, you speed will skyrocket in the urban areas (im using telstraclear) and get speeds of ~250kbps normally, but up to 2mbps at night. Be prepared to wake up and be on dialup for a day or so though.
The NCEA system that is used for Highs Schools in New Zealand is utter crap. Physics especially follows an obscure marking system that even our teachers don’t fully understand at times. I think it involves sacrificing someone
. One of my friends sat lvl3 physics last year (final year of high school) and got 85%. And failed the paper. Whereas in another paper he got 40% and passed with excellence (highest mark. Numerical score doesn’t matter at all)
It is getting to the point that no institution pays any attention to NCEA, it is so pathetically easy and offers no distintion between a genius or a mediorce student: all there is is a certificate saying “This student 1) Failed 2) Passed 3) Passed with Merit 4) Passed with excellence.” Excellence for the entire year is achievable by only doing art. Someone could fail every english paper, every maths paper, every physics paper but get all of their art papers with Excellence, and pass the year with excellence, getting a end result indistinguishable from the student who gets every single paper in the year with excellence.
The website with all the papers on it is here: http://nzqa.govt.nz/ncea/index.html
Physics papers are located here (level one): http://nzqa.govt.nz/ncea/assessment/search.do?query=physics&view=all&level=01
Gripes about the education system aside (i’m disliking it because im currently sitting it) NZ is a wonderful place to live. As long as you avoid Auckland
Physics teachers are in pretty high demand, and i can say with a reasonable degree of certainty that Wellington College still has a physics vacancy.
Concerning internet filtering, as far as i can tell, there is none: our government isn’t as stupid as the Australian one (no offense).
March 12th, 2009 at 6:20 am
Holy. That’s insane, that all pictures of naked children would be considered porn, no matter the context. Also I love your captioning of this picture.
March 23rd, 2009 at 6:10 pm
member of nambla, are ya?
March 25th, 2009 at 12:08 am
I’ve seen this image before, It’s of South Vietnam during the Vietnamese war. I think 1971?
March 28th, 2009 at 4:57 am
Just what exactly is the purpose of posting Huynh Ut photo of a Napalm Attack in Trang Bang South Vietnam? What is the purpose? DO you know and does Ut know that the airplane that dropped the napalm was ARVN – This is an example of liberal cowards who had no balls of their own face an enemy so they created an enemy of the USA. This entire Operation was South Vietnamese coordinated, ordered and executed — USA had nothing to do with this event occurring. The young girls nakedness exposes the posters nakedness – to me – you have no point nor strategy as to why you post this – especially when the truth regarding the incident in far from you! 100% South Vietnamese Operation. Trang Bang was an area heavily infested with NVA and Viet Cong — hence the air support. Months later all was back to normal in 1968 Trang Bang was bombarded by heavy mortar and missile fire until nothing remained — She is lucky she got the hell out of there when she did or did she?
Ut you gotta tell the truth along with the photography~! Ut Call me! 1LT Los c,carlos.ramos@gmail.com
May 10th, 2009 at 1:45 am
Stay away from NZ, it’s nothing but gun-toting maniacs who hate authority…
May 22nd, 2009 at 2:59 pm
move to texas.
or Australia
January 30th, 2010 at 6:48 pm
NP, you rule SO hard.