So this could be worrying...

[pippychick]

Not going to reproduce the article here, but I will provide a link. Wow… I hope this does not come to pass :/

The most chilling parts:

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The new laws will also apply to content which is sound only, ominously bringing the written word under censorship laws. Sites hosting ebooks with erotic content may find themselves falling foul of the legislation.  We could be heading back to the days when someone faces legal sanctions for publishing Lady Chatterley’s Lover in an audio format.

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All this legislation is likely to achieve is the annihilation of an industry catering to sexual minorities and massive insecurity for anyone making edgy or erotic content who could face sanctions if they accidentally give a government censor a hard-on.

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The bill will also introduce new copyright legislation which could mean that simply sharing or retweeting an internet meme... could mean prosecution with a maximum penalty of ten years imprisonment.  Really.

https://johnnyvoid.wordpress.com/2016/10/19/they-are-coming-for-the-internet-new-porn-and-copyright-laws-could-criminalise-millions/

Thoughts, anyone? Anyone else who comes here from the UK?

[Melrick]

What the hell is going on in the UK?  It’s all going tits up there.

[pippychick]

It doesn’t include the written word… yet. Though the kind of people who think these things up will have that in their sights, I’m sure.

The age verification they propose is not satisfied by a “Proceed” question either. It has to be done via credit card or something similar. But then again, he makes the point they have no clue how the internet works. There’s no way to police it for content hosted outside the UK, which has no obligation to conform to any act passed by our parliament, and therefore makes the entire thing ridiculous. As he says, it’s the smaller UK content providers who are going to be hurt by this. Those who produce pornography that fits in a niche, that probably isn’t created exclusively by men, for men, and isn’t necessarily hetero or vanilla. Sad.

I doubt this has anything to do with what children see or not on the internet: there are plenty of parental control things out there, and if that fails, supervision of online time would work. I’ve always thought that letting kids loose on the internet is a bit like leaving them on a street corner. But anyway, I think that’s just a convenient facade to justify a war on pornography (especially certain kinds of pornography). Yet again, I find myself wondering what the hell people have against it. They don’t have to watch, it’s easy to avoid. I’m always tempted to think that some of us are just more adult than others. *sighs*  

[Desiderius Price]

Hmm… many outlaws will we have when they make writing/reading without a license illegal?   Fahrenheit 451 anyone?

[pippychick]

Well, I live in the same country that imprisoned Oscar Wilde for the crime of being gay, calling it “gross indecency” at whose sentencing the judge said:

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“It is the worst case I have ever tried. I shall pass the severest sentence that the law allows. In my judgment it is totally inadequate for such a case as this. The sentence of the Court is that you be imprisoned and kept to hard labor for two years.”

Also the same country that convicted the brilliant (and gay) mathematician Alan Turing for “indecency” (why this seems to be a pattern!), making him submit to a “cure” (oh, no, wait… it’s getting worse – cure actually means chemical castration). From the court record, word for word:

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To submit to treatment by a duly qualified medical practitioner at Manchester Royal Infirmary.

To this day, there are still men living in Britain who were convicted under the same law – for being gay.

So… can I imagine being forced to defend the writing I produce in a court of law, in this country in which I live? Yes, I can… all too easily. They’ll probably come out with some new “obscene publication” law.

Although, apart from all the disturbing and horrific BDSM I write (which I would defend, even if it ended in prison time), the idea of an actual court starting down the path of the tl;dr “Why slash?” thing is a little bit hillarious.

[Desiderius Price]

The trouble with censorship, is, once you’ve started, it’s not just the authors who are punished that concern me, but those who start self-censoring, or decide to not write because of it.    Self-censoring, or electing “not-to” is worse aspect of these laws, IMO, as that’s material that’s permanently lost because it’s never created.  (Of course, those doing the censoring will argue that’s the point of censoring).

[pippychick]

If arbitrarily deciding that created content is worthless becomes a thing, regardless of the consumers of that content and their more informed opinion, then I demand all cultish celebrity television be forced to stop broadcasting immediately.

The point is, regardless of personal preference, all content is worth something. We are all different, we all have differing tastes, and there should be a place for everyone to play, whether their tastes run towards extremes, slash, celebrity or anything else under the sun. As long as no one is harmed, then there can be no logical argument for censorship. I agree with your view that this would lead to a decrease in creativity, and that would be a very sad thing IMO too.

 

[BronxWench]

48 minutes ago, pippychick said:

If arbitrarily deciding that created content is worthless becomes a thing, regardless of the consumers of that content and their more informed opinion, then I demand all cultish celebrity television be forced to stop broadcasting immediately.

The point is, regardless of personal preference, all content is worth something. We are all different, we all have differing tastes, and there should be a place for everyone to play, whether their tastes run towards extremes, slash, celebrity or anything else under the sun. As long as no one is harmed, then there can be no logical argument for censorship. I agree with your view that this would lead to a decrease in creativity, and that would be a very sad thing IMO too.

 

Very well said.

As much as I dislike the Celebrity subdomain here (and I’ve never been shy about saying so or why), I will concede that it does belong here, under the very appropriate real-person fiction limits we have. I’m not and never want to be the arbiter of what is permissible from a creative standpoint. 

[DirtyAngel]

This is less about content in some story or on some web site, this is that timeless phenomenon of people wanting to force their morals, which they probably don't actually follow themselves, on others simply as a way of excersizing power and control over another. Censorship isn't about protecting teens from evil pornographers, it's about conditioning people to obey, can't stop the unwashed masses from thinking for themselves if they can read whatever they want on the Internet, just ask Kim Jong-Un.

It starts with banning adult themed content and before you know it they're burning The Cat In The Hat because that darn cat is obviously a criminal element we don't want out poor innocent children exposed to! 

Ok, I’ll get off my soapbox again, sorry for the rant but censorship is a touchy subject, I've dealt with it before from parents and school board idiots, did you know I had a mother object to us reading Winnie The Pooh to the kids one year? Evidently talking animals are an affront to God, personally I doubt SHE cares  

[Desiderius Price]

Censorship is a blunt tool, wielded for different reasons, with stifling unwanted intents/desires/thoughts from the populace being a desired outcome.  Dictators will dissuade rebellion/revolt/disloyalty.   Clergy want you to stay faithful to their religion (and power), so dissuade blasphemous thoughts.  And parents wanting to be lazy and have the schools do their parenting for them.  And while it may have collateral damage, censorship exists because it can be effective in some situations, delaying the inevitable (and that can be good enough).

Overall, I like AFF because it’s generally supportive of freedom in writing, and the few rules that do exist are to starve the lawyers.  Because, like you, I loathe censorship, that’s why you’ll see the topic appear in my stories from time to time. 

[pippychick]

At this point, for anyone in the UK reading this thread who is worried about the proposed law, or the regulations imposed in 2008, here’s a link to Backlash. Their mission statement:

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Backlash UK is an organisation that defends freedom of sexual expression among consenting adults in UK. We provide legal, academic and campaigning advice.

https://www.backlash.org.uk/

[DirtyAngel]

OMG it’s Desiderous Price’s story! It’s all his fault! Get Him!

Sorry, I just wanted to incite some mindless mob violence, I never get to at home  Lizzie says its not lady like...