Last week United Kingdom prime minister David Cameron issued an ultimatum (archived) directed at internet porn sites demanding they voluntarily produce an "effective" regime for restricting access based on age or he would act legislatively to either force such a scheme or shut them down. Of course "effective" age filters would necessarily mean the creation of a larger online identity regime. The United Kingdom already forces Internet Service Providers to filter internet connections to block pornography unless service subscribers explicitly opt out of the filtering. Further the United Kingdom late last year restricted the kinds of sex acts which may be included in pornography produced in the United Kingdom for online Video on Demand consumption.
Between the antics of the GHCQ and Britain's attempt to shut itself out of Bitcoin, residents of the United Kingdom need to seriously consider whether their government in the long run stands to bring the United Kingdom out of communion with the larger internet in favor of establishing a North Korean style national intranet. The United Kindgom already bears many of the marks of a failed state with its dependent native underclass and crumbling health infrastructure leaving the country's fate to the good will of skilled immigrants. What little influence possessed by the United Kingdom on the international stage largely comes from the states they share a symbolic monarch through their commonwealth along with their position one of the few European Union members to have opted out of the Euro.
A further recent cause for concern is that leader of the British National Police Chief's Council (archived) has talked about changes in British criminal behavior necessitating a shift in police priorities. Property crimes like burglary and robbery are likely to be deprioritized as "online abuse" becomes a more pressing concern in the eyes of the constabulary, and much like stronger online pornography controls this too is being pushed because of anomalous threats posed to children. Whatever "online abuse" happens to be it would surely be much easier to track if Britons were enticed to connect their online identity to their national identity with pornography as an incentive.
Of course "effective" age filters would necessarily mean the creation of a larger online identity regime.
The age verification could be done by checking for a valid credit card, which would be sufficient (in the minds of the computer illiterate Tories) to filter out anyone who is not 18. The Tories are going to face fierce opposition to this, as it is now clear that they are set to wage a "War on the Internet".
ID Cards or "Internet IDs" will instantly be seen as "ID Cards through the back door" and the British, to their credit, are universally against them, thanks to the Frances Stonor Saunders email
http://www.objectivistliving.com/forums/?showtopic=1207
that reached millions of UK residents, explaining clearly and in simple terms why ID Cards are a bad idea. The Tories will bring child porn into the mix to whip up hysteria, but this will not work to create a National Internet ID system. No one will buy it.
The real problem facing the UK is "Make work Tory Syndrome" there are not enough crisis or problems that they can issue announcements on and take to task so they can look like they are busy and actively governing. They therefore have to make things up, creating a string of false crises and needed "clamp downs" and "stomp outs" of society's ills.
What they should be doing, obviously, is getting out of the way, and encouraging software companies, especially Bitcoin companies, to incorporate in the UK, giving them at least some chance of surviving The Transformation.
It's important we keep our children away from seeing naked bodies, or people pretending to enjoy themselves. This time absolutely must go towards seeing people pretend to kill each other, wave voodoo flags, submit to fascists, etc. While Cameron's initiative may be ill-defined and destined to fail, we must stop and think about how we can work towards a guns-not-penises internet to keep the next generation afraid and ignorant. These things are too important to be left in the hands of people who might actually care or who might actually have opportunity to do something.
>Further the United Kingdom late last year restricted the kinds of sex acts which may be included in pornography produced in the United Kingdom for online Video on Demand consumption.
IIRC they just extended existing restrictions.
Not that it makes much difference to my plans to exit the UK