back to article BBC accused of coming out for porn opt-in?

The BBC was today accused of ignoring its own charter requirement to offer balance by coming down firmly on the side of opt-in in respect of internet porn regulation. An "alliance of the concerned" drawn from academics and individuals representing the adult film industry added their voices to a chorus of dissent, claiming that …

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  1. MonkeyBot

    "commercially favourable to the BBC"

    I'm not sure how a porn opt-in is favourable to the BBC.

    It's not an excess of free porn that's stopping me from watching Eastenders.

    1. Jon Double Nice

      For me it's the fact that it is a:

      "Soap opera so transparently fictitious it might as well be set on the fucking Moon"* that stops me from watching it.

      *To quote TVGoHome

    2. Anonymous Coward
      FAIL

      Because...

      It would be commercially favorable because a lot of internet bandwidth *is* porn related. By embarrasing consumers into an opt-in system, the likes of the BBC hope to free up more bandwidth on the net for their own services, like iPlayer. BBC also wants to be in with the current government to secure its future funding. No matter how impartial the BBC claims to be, it always protects its own interests at the end of the day. Just look back on its history, you'll see the pattern of self preservation.

    3. Chris Parsons

      Too bloody true

      Getting rid of the tv was one of the best things I ever did.

  2. Mr Larrington
    FAIL

    Tony Livesey???

    As in former editor-in-chief of the Daily / Sunday Sport which makes much of its income from "adult" advertising?

    Suxx0r.

  3. Al 4

    Bigotry and hatred

    Does this mean that religious organizations will be paying for education on racial bias and bigotry and the problems they cause for society since they're the ones that seem to promote it?

    1. Kay Burley ate my hamster
      Thumb Up

      Lets not forget

      Sexism and Homophobia, the god blatherers invented that stuff.

      1. Galidron
        Stop

        Religion

        Religion didn't create sexism it just validated and reinforced existing cultural behavior at that time. Homophobia I'll give you. Several cultures used to accept and sometimes encourage homosexuality.

  4. Bernard M. Orwell

    Bias? Really?

    The BBC? Biased?! Shocking!

    I mean, I'd never think they were biased given their incredibly balanced views in all other areas such as religion, social demography, sexual equality and climate change...

    ....ah...wait....

    1. John Smith 19 Gold badge
      Happy

      Bernard M. Orwell

      Should have included <sarcasm> </sarcasm> tags.

  5. JaitcH
    FAIL

    The BBC is like SkyB except that ...

    it get free handouts from the taxpayer who must support under threat of fines or jail.

    At least we know what Murdoch is, the BBC just pretends to be balanced.

    1. Tempest
      WTF?

      Only the BBC would bring us an idiot like ...

      Stephen Fry who knows diddly squat about technology and so many other things.

      Who else would hire him?

  6. Oliver 7
    WTF?

    And I quote...

    "F-king agenda driven judas. And you can quote me on that."

    Ha ha, classic! I missed the programme but it sounds like a typical example of nu-Lab spin. There was a puff-piece in the Scotsman by some sycophantic journalist recently where Jacqui sheds tears in an attempt to show she is actually human but merely betrays her profound ignorance more with each utterance. She is nothing more than an uptight, hypocritical fraudster and it's very disappointing that the BBC is allowing her to pursue her prudish personal agenda, whilst attempting to regain some public credibility!

  7. Nic 3
    Troll

    annoyed of England writes

    Just to clarify I did not WTFP however I am strongly against this kind of move toward censorship. I am all in favour of the sex education component provided the funding is is the form of sponsorship.

    Can you imagine.

    Kids, welcome to your sex education lesson sponsored by Fleshlight!

    :)

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      @Nic 3

      I was thinking more on the lines of:

      Today we shall be learning about oral sex. Your tutors for the lesson will be Miss. Martha Melons and Mr. Whopper Chopper, take it away folks........

    2. Circadian
      WTF?

      sex education sponsored by...

      I will admit, this did sound ... intriguing? Especially if the content is also provided by the industry.

      "Now children, please watch the video for the sex position of the week. Our show is sponsored by [insert porn producer brand name of choice here!], purveyers of quality porn. Don't forget - those over the age of consent may be interested in the jobs fair being held next month - [brand] is at stand #16."

      Is that why the powers that be have recently allowed company advertising within shows to be allowed too?

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    heh

    ""I didn’t feel it was necessary for me to watch violent porn in order to legislate against it." After all, she hasn’t taken drugs either and was still able to legislate on that."

    And we all know how evidence based drug law is.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      FAIL

      What is a drug?

      Can't remember, but was Ms Smith the Home Secretary when 24 hour drinking was brought in? (or was that he colleague Mr Straw).

      Either way, the Labour government legislated to increase use of this dangerous addictive drug that is known to cause numerous social ills, increase violence and crime, and cause a huge strain on the NHS.

      Ho hum

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Unhappy

      Assumption

      I'm assuming the comment was el Reg's little jibe at the fallacy of her logic. I would assume (though I know I'm wrong) that despite not taking drugs, she would be presented with evidence that they're harmful in order to legitimately legislate.

      I wasn't aware that "violent porn" was harmful to anyone, assuming that it's acted out. I would also wonder at where the line was drawn with non-pornographic films that acted out violent sexual behaviours - presumably that's ok as long as it's not explicit?

      At the end of the day though, I know that it's just a case of knee-jerk reactions and reverse-causality at play. No doubt there were cases of (actual) sex offenders who liked some of the pron that's been banned, and therefore in the head of Wacky, the converse was also true. Ergo ban it and sex offenders will cease to be.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        the extreme porn law

        The old Extreme porn law was brought in on the coat tails of the guy that strangled a woman, he happened to be into his hardcore hardcorez. That was more or less the extent of the evidence.

        And the modification to cp law to include drawing was just brought in on the flights of fancy of morons, (oddly I happened to discover I know a reasonable number of morons personally.)

        and again the subtle implication that if you don't support such censorship and bizare laws you are somehow closer to being a sex offender, so most people tow the line and if it went to a vote I suspect it would get passed with a healthy majority in the streets aswell as in the commons.

        Likely wouldn't get passed the lords though, although it may do given the laws New Labour put in place to stop the Lords debating these things (they placed certain time limits so people supporting the government whip could drone on and take up all the alloted time meaning nothing could be discussed afterwards, this happened with both EP and CP mods.)

        New Labour knew full well what a pain in the arse the lords could be and intentionally went out of the way to sabotage the only part of our system that properly balances the media fags and lobbiests that make up the rest of government. Not being elected give you a wonderful insight into things.

  9. hplasm
    Grenade

    I denounce Smith as a witch.

    I demand trial by ducking stool, as is my right.

    Yrs, Outraged Viewer.

    That should have the same standing as her deranged rants, and a possible cure for them.

    1. irish donkey
      Megaphone

      Burn the Witch

      Before she starts uttering a spell to be bedevil us all.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      It's a fair cop

      Does she weigh more or less than a duck?

  10. Dick Emery
    Paris Hilton

    More control via the backdoor (Ooer missus)

    Wackie Jaqui is just another talking head for the function creep brigade who are more interested in controlling what we can see or do on the interweb thingie. She like the other whipping boys need to be put out of our misery. Preferably by being thorwn against a wall, bound up in leather bondage and have custard thrown over them whilst being forcibly licked clean from head to bottom by Ms Smith. I'd pay a dollar fer seeing that!

    1. The BigYin

      There is another thing...

      ...she fail to understand the Internet. All blockages will be routed around, without exception.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        RE: There is another thing...

        Tis true, thy vpn vanquishes the firewall o greatness easily and grantith access to thy facebook, thy twitter and thy iplayer, blessed be thy vpn.

  11. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    As expected...

    I didn't bother to watch this as I could tell from the trailers and by who was presenting it, it would be a pile of unbalanced claptrap. Looks like I was right...

    1. Wayland Sothcott 1

      "I didn’t feel it was necessary for me to watch violent porn in order to legislate against it."

      Same as Jackie, good one.

  12. Shonko Kid
    FAIL

    Don't know where to start on this one..

    Can we not just send her a document that says all porn on the internet has been eradicated and she can now finally take a break from here long struggle against our freedom? If we 'opted-out' her ISP she'd never know the difference...

  13. Anonymous Coward
    WTF?

    I Call Bullshit

    Had never watched pron? At her age? Nah, don't believe it.

    Didn't see the documentary, but might have to watch it so I can see what the fuss is about.

    1. The BigYin

      She saw the cover...

      ...but didn't open the case.

      As in, she puffed but did not inhale.

      1. Jedit Silver badge
        Joke

        It's her husband I feel sorry for

        "I tried porn, but did not impale."

        1. Sarah Bee (Written by Reg staff)

          Re: It's her husband I feel sorry for

          Ha!

    2. steogede

      Re: I Call Bullshit - her ignorance is incredible, but not un-credible

      >> Had never watched pron? At her age? Nah, don't believe it.

      If you had heard the documentary, you might change your mind. Her level of ignorance is staggering, though hardly surprising if you saw what a waste of space she was as Home Secretary (she is clearly ignorant of many (most?) things).

      There is a point where she says that one of the things which surprised her most was the amount of material that was available for free, and therefore without enforcible age restrictions. That was the part where I realised that she was as ignorant as she making out - I bet she was really kicking herself about her husband's charges to her expense account. In case you have forgotten; he watched porn, the tax payer paid, she got into trouble and it all (except the first bit) could have been avoided if he had just used the web to do what it does best.

      >> Didn't see the documentary, but might have to watch it so I can see what the fuss is about.

      That sounds like an impressive radio you have got there (okay to be fair the article didn't mention it was on radio).

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    wondering

    Wondering, why hasn't anyone poured a bucket of water over her head? Not that I would, as it would mean putting my pneumatic hammer shlong away and going outside, but the porn, it keeps on calling me.

    "I'm Melting~~~~~"

    The other thing, is it going to be as shit as the mobile one where if you want to use google translate or other translation programs you'll need full fat porn internets anyway?

  15. Christoph

    Just doing their BEEPing job

    If these people are in favour of porn then they might use bad language as well. So obviously the BBC has to BEEP out anything they say. In the interests of fairness and balance, like.

  16. The BigYin

    It's really easy

    Where does the censorship end? Porn off by default. Anti-Semitic off by default? Pro-ana off by default? FPS gaming off by default? Government criticism off by default?

    You may or may not like porn. I am may or may not like many things, but I am not advocating censorship just because I don't like it (although...I'd probably not complain too loudly if religious and intelligent design sites/pages were "off by default"). Anyway...censorship is wrong. Period.

    The responsibility lies with the parents and no one else.

    Don't want your kiddies to get run over? Teach them how to cross the road and not to play on the motorway.

    Don't want your kiddies to see porn? Learn how to install a proxy and don't allow them on the Internet unsupervised.

    Do not abdicate YOUR responsibilities to MY wallet.

    ---

    And as for Ms Smith - never seen porn? Bullshit. Has she never looked inside "The Sun"? Impartial outsider? Should more like a puritanical vigilante if you ask me.

    1. Just Thinking

      Your missing the point

      The difference is, porn is dangerous. Especially dangerous porn, which is really dangerous.

      1. Smallbrainfield
        Coat

        But not a dangerous as high explosive porn,

        which of course is the most dangerous porn of all. A friend of mine lost an arm when he stumbled across a cache of unexploded porn.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Coat

          Surely you're forgetting...

          ...nuclear pr0n.

          1. John I'm only dancing

            Good pr0n. bad pr0n

            This is very reminiscent of Brass Eye. Good electricity and bad electricity...If only Christopher Mrris had given Jacqui Smith the... Nicholas Parsons, Darkus Howe, Carla Lane, Bernard Manning etc treatment.

            1. John Smith 19 Gold badge
              Happy

              @Joh I'm only dancing

              Christopher Morris could not make up someone like Jacquie Smith.

              Don't forget the Brass Eye that *really* got lots of grief was his superb hatchet job on media hysteria over CP, "Stranger danger" and other assorted BS in the British Isles, or rather the "Paedo Isles" as he called them.

              I think youtube search on brass eye paedogeddon will get what you need.

              1. John I'm only dancing
                Happy

                Brass Eye

                Thanks for the info John but I have the entire series already.

        2. Someone Else Silver badge
          Coat

          Lost an arm?

          Usually, you only lose use of your hand...

  17. Richard 33
    Megaphone

    Please no more

    I really hoped after the last election that we'd never have to hear from "wacky" Jacqui Smith and her half-baked primary-school teacher theories again. If we just stop talking about her, hopefully she'll go away.

    1. John Smith 19 Gold badge
      Happy

      @Richard 33

      Yes it would be a good idea to deprive her of the oxygen of publicity.

      Although I can't help feeling a few people would settle for depriving her of the usual sort as well.

  18. Anonymous Coward
    Unhappy

    Representative Democracy in Action

    "Ms Smith began by positioning herself as impartial outsider. She had never seen porn before, but explained: "I didn’t feel it was necessary for me to watch violent porn in order to legislate against it." After all, she hasn’t taken drugs either and was still able to legislate on that"

    So wacky Jacqui is operating from the assumption that the UK drugs legislation is sane and coherent, despite blocking any scientific evidence the contradicts the "moral minority"'s view.

    But hey, MPs voting of stuff they don't understand and can't be botherered to research, is no different from the majority of the voters in the popularity contest that elected expense fidling vote grubers.

  19. Chris Jasper
    FAIL

    So....

    .....apparently having your husband caught out for watching porn and 'mistakenly' claiming it on expenses makes you qualified to judge and decide the viewing habits of the entire British public.

    Wouldnt mind if it really was to protect the children, but its just another prudish, christian right wing fundamentalist telling us whats right and wrong.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      WTF?

      "Spending more time with the family"

      Surely, after being sacked as minister and then losing her parliamentary seat she should have had more time to spend with her errant husband who could teach the difference between good porn and bad porn with practical demonstrations for family and friends? Fulfilling her wifely duty would surely keep those base urges from him. On second thoughts, it was may have been fulfilling his manly duties that drove him to porn in the first place.

      Can you claim ignorance and bigotry on expenses?

  20. DrXym

    Nanny state

    It's not a porn "opt-in", it's a net censorship opt-out, and it is one which is completely intolerable.

    It isn't even necessary either. Here is how to avoid it quite simply.

    1. User signs up for ISP

    2. ISP asks do you have kids?

    3. User says no, okay no further action

    4. User says yes, okay we'll email you a details on how to install a free parental control filter or a small app that sets browser to use ISP supplied web proxy, or use the BUILT-IN parental controls that OS X and Windows Vista / 7 already supply.

    Simple, straightforward. Filtering is opt-in and left to parents. Nobody from the government on down should be putting up with an opt out system. It WILL lead to a more general national firewall within time, one that arbitrarily starts filtering torrent sites, porn sites, political sites, D-notice sites and so forth.

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