Because geek is cool and clever

Moderation? We’ve heard it all before January 2, 2009

The internet has undoubtedly seen a relaxing of censorship in this country and others.

Things that were once banned can no longer be controlled by individual states because of the open architecture of the world wide web.

Of course, this hasn’t stopped some governments from trying.

China infamously blocks access to huge swathes of the web, something it is almost uniquely able to do because of its complete control of the country’s telecommunication system. In order to avoid being blocked itself, Google controversially agreed to censoring demands from the Chinese government.

No doubt there are numerous technically savvy citizens who can and do risk getting around the blocks in place behind this new, virtual iron curtain.

Australia has recently revealed ambitious – and surely ultimately futile – plans to make demands on Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to censor access to certain content.

Under the proposal, all ISPs would have to block their users’ access to certain websites and content – something that is not only extremely difficult to implement, but also extremely easy to circumvent.

Not only are the Australian government’s plans expensive and technically of dubious feasibility, they also call into question the whole issue of censorship and who would decide what its citizens can and can’t see and under what circumstances would those decisions be made.

Go back a decade or so in this country and there were regular censorship calls from MPs who didn’t understand the impossibility of what they were demanding.

These days, our politicians attempt to win credibility points by making more attainable but equally futile arguments.

The latest comes from culture secretary, Andy Burnham who has said the government is looking at the possibility of introducing movie-style age ratings to websites in an attempt to guide us on their content.

Such a plan is doomed from the start for so many reasons.

Because it is unenforceable, the government have said it will be ‘optional’ which probably means a handful of UK sites for children would use it for a short while before abandoning it when it fails to take off.

It’s also reminiscent of Channel 4’s red triangle which was supposed to indicate adult content in a program and instantly became the first thing kids would look for when channel hopping on their bedroom tellies.

Common sense, supervision where necessary and an acceptance of reality are all we really need.