No Porn On Port 80?

from the yeah,-good-luck-with-that dept

A Utah business man apparently believes he's come up with a solution for the issue of blocking online porn. He basically wants legislation that would say all porn needs to go through a different port, rather than the standard port 80 for regular web traffic. With that in place, it would be easy (they say) to block out any porn, because you could just create a filter system that would only allow traffic over port 80. Voila. No more porn. Except... this "outside-the-box" solution seems so far outside the box that it forgot to check back in with reality. The problem with filtering out porn isn't a better way to classify it. If that were the case, then we'd already have laws forcing all porn into a special .xxx redlight district -- which would basically solve the same problem. The problem is defining what is and what isn't porn. As we've seen from various attempts at software filters, this isn't easy at all. Many filters are way too aggressive, blocking out lots of stuff that most people consider perfectly safe. Forcing all that content off of port 80 doesn't help anyone. This "think tank" that came up with it is solving the wrong problem. No one has a problem putting in place a filtering solution, whether by URL, TLD or port. The problem is that "porn" is a subjective measure and you can't just wall it off.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  • identicon
    giafly, 28 Nov 2005 @ 9:55am

    Re: RFC 3514 - The Security Flag in the IPv4 Heade

    This can be done more effectively and cheaply in software, by simply requiring browsers etc. to implement RFC 3514.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Mike S., 28 Nov 2005 @ 11:09am

      Re: RFC 3514 - The Security Flag in the IPv4 Heade

      I can't quite put my finger on it, but I'm pretty sure there's a hole somewhere in that RFC.

      -Mike S.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Ron B., 28 Nov 2005 @ 11:31am

        Dirty Tricks

        I would agree with you all, except that when I am trying to research anything other than porn, low and behold I still get porn pop-ups or banners because the links that yahoo or google find are not what they say they should be.

        So, how can better parenting fix the problem where their child is trying to search for historical information on lets say Germany for a report they have to do for school on Germany and they end up on pages about Germany that have those pop-ups or banners.

        Other than that you are all right. :)

        link to this | view in chronology ]

        • icon
          Mike (profile), 28 Nov 2005 @ 11:38am

          Re: Dirty Tricks

          I would agree with you all, except that when I am trying to research anything other than porn, low and behold I still get porn pop-ups or banners because the links that yahoo or google find are not what they say they should be.

          I'm curious how common this is. I can't recall ever coming across porn accidentally online, though I hear about it all the time. Still, I spend an awful lot of time online, and yet I don't seem to accidentally see porn. Am I blocking it out? Or have I just been lucky?

          link to this | view in chronology ]

        • identicon
          Rikko, 28 Nov 2005 @ 11:50am

          Re: Dirty Tricks

          I would agree with you all, except that when I am trying to research anything other than porn, low and behold I still get porn pop-ups or banners because the links that yahoo or google find are not what they say they should be.

          Stop using IE...

          link to this | view in chronology ]

        • identicon
          A., 28 Nov 2005 @ 12:10pm

          Re: Dirty Tricks

          If you are getting porn popups using Yahoo, etc, you should look for viruses and spyware on your system. Chances are that's what is causing it. Then switch to Firefox and load adblock.

          The big search sites don't want to deliver porn to you unless you are specifically looking for it.

          link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      whitey77, 29 Nov 2005 @ 8:36am

      Re: RFC 3514 - The Security Flag in the IPv4 Heade

      Evil bit flags? Is this serious? OK, but who gets to decide which packets are evil and which aren't?
      The question remains the same.....

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Le Beau Gars, 28 Nov 2005 @ 10:31am

    Psha right

    Yeah, or maybe parents could just monitor their children while on the internet. No, of course not, we have to implement crazy ways of doing things instead of being responsible parents.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      thecaptain, 29 Nov 2005 @ 5:15am

      Re: Psha right

      maybe parents could just monitor their children while on the internet.

      [Homer's voice]

      That's just crazy enough to work!

      [/Homer's voice]

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Keegan Orange, 28 Nov 2005 @ 10:34am

    pr0n

    Or maybe everyone just needs to loosen up a little.

    Kids need supervision (called parenting), and filters or software shouldnt be a substitution for that.

    and if your not a kid, then what right is there for filtering anything? It's easy enough to avoid porn if your offended by it personally.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Philip, 28 Nov 2005 @ 10:34am

    US only ruling

    And lets not discount the fact that companies overseas do not have to listen to US laws on the net.

    All this'll do is increase the porn industry outside the US as they won't be prohibited by any US rules from using port 80.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    unknown, 28 Nov 2005 @ 11:03am

    No Subject Given

    wow! porn this porn that. boohoo its nude people having sex. people are going to do it at some point of their life so whats the point? and if people want to beat off to some porn then what the hell is the problem? well besides the gross kiddy porn.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 28 Nov 2005 @ 12:44pm

      Re: No Subject Given

      Your bad grammer reflects your immaturity perfectly.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Another Anonymous Coward, 28 Nov 2005 @ 12:52pm

        Re: No Subject Given

        Your bad grammer reflects your immaturity perfectly.

        This coming from the guy who spelled grammar wrong...

        link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Keegan Orange, 28 Nov 2005 @ 11:32am

    No Subject Given

    Did anyone else notice that the RFC was dated on april fools day?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    red, 28 Nov 2005 @ 11:45am

    No Subject Given

    I'm tired of people's over reaction when it comes to sex. I mean, when it comes to movies, people having sex is wrong and people killing people is not. Why? I don't know and I find it rather disturbing. I think we as human race should stop for a moment and think of what's really important to worry about. Please lets face it!! We came to this world to do many things and whether many people like or not sex is a big part of the human condition. Why kids can see people blowing people apart and can't see the slighest sugestion of sex? I don't know.

    Violence is sick, sex is as natural as sleep or eat.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Sissy Pants, 28 Nov 2005 @ 12:02pm

    Who Cares

    Are they going to stop P2P porn transfers? How about porn in email, or FTP sites? Yeah, I think not.

    Trying to stop something on the internet is like trying to keep drugs off the streets... it isn't going to happen.

    If you don't want it at work, fire anyone caught using it. If you don't want it at home, don't let the kids surf the internet. If you don't like your significant other doing it, you are insane.

    No porn on port 80 is the dumbest thing since Sony loading root kits on computers...

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Jared Anderson, 28 Nov 2005 @ 12:14pm

      Re: Who Cares

      Im a parent and would much rather have my son watch people kill each other than those disgusting boobies. ;)

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      suzy screwball, 28 Nov 2005 @ 12:27pm

      Re: Who Cares

      No porn on port 80 is the dumbest thing since Sony loading root kits on computers...
      Ok, that was like yesterday. Sooo..not a the best analogy, but maybe your point is made.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Lam S., 28 Nov 2005 @ 12:53pm

        Re: Who Cares

        No porn on port 80?? what?? Got too much time on your hand, chill the hell out. Dont blame the net if you're too lazy or can't babysit.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Ben McNelly, 28 Nov 2005 @ 3:46pm

    No Subject Given

    I agree, this wont fix anything. To me it's about free speech. I personally would rather it not be out there. Not only is offending to me, I don't want it corrupting minds at too young of age. Fact is though, the internet is the home of the next generations. And the other fact is, if you want to find porn... you will. If you don't, you wont. Now that comes with conditions, like you have to be savvy enough to not be infected with spyware/adware and use IE, and you have to browse the web smartly. Google by default is set to safe search in images, but that wont matter if you search for "boobies"...
    (4,000 geek's reading this simultaneously put it to the test....)


    But what I am saying is, yes I agree we need to take measures to stop it being blatantly shoved in our face, but Lord I hope they don't start censoring the internet. When they start blocking sites based on "someone's" classification of porn, it opens the door to the closing of religious, governmental and ethnic freedom as well. I want freedom of speech and expresion, dangit!!! You can have your porn, I'll take a free country.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 28 Nov 2005 @ 7:08pm

    No Subject Given

    This idea is dumb, right up there with the 10 wives concept. Wait a sec.. where did you say this man was from again?

    'Nuff said.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    zinga, 6 Dec 2005 @ 3:06pm

    cp80

    Here this,fully understnd the solution before you have diarea of the mouth. Out side US is not a problem see the cp80 site. If you don't think porn is bad for kids, look at the reasearch. and finaliy the line that has to be drawn only needs to error on the side of too concervitive to be effective...Why. Do your friggen homework and read the CP80 site. If you don't have a problem with porn on your computer CP80 will not effect you in anyway. you will still get your porn so stop whinning.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 13 Dec 2005 @ 8:08pm

    No Subject Given

    Actually, you are confusing porngraphy with obscenity, indecency and material considered harmful to minors.

    AND it is already being done by the movie industry (R), televsion (TV-MA), music industry (Parental Advisory), and video games (M and A).

    So drawing the line is easy. Creating the ports are easy. Drafting the laws are a bit more tricky, but are not impossible.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Mike (profile), 13 Dec 2005 @ 10:46pm

      Re: No Subject Given

      AND it is already being done by the movie industry (R), televsion (TV-MA), music industry (Parental Advisory), and video games (M and A).

      Um. There's quite a bit that's different between those *broadcast* style committees that can reasonably review all content, and the internet where anyone can create content. So, yeah, I'd say it's a lot more difficult than you seem to think it is.

      So drawing the line is easy. Creating the ports are easy. Drafting the laws are a bit more tricky, but are not impossible.

      But you haven't answered "why ports?" If it's so "easy" to figure out what's indecent, then how come you can't just use filters? Doesn't that solve the same problem in a much simpler fashion?

      The problem isn't the technology, but defining indecency on a global network where anyone can create content.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        kismas, 28 Feb 2007 @ 3:20pm

        Re: Re: No Subject Given

        You really are a bone head. The technology needed for a filter to truly analize an image DOES NOT EXIST. It would be wonderful if it did, but then again even if you did on you box, a savy kid could easily break it, as they do now with every filter on the market. You saying filters shows your ignorance. Wake up and smell the filth. What is your brilliant solution? don't say filters and don't say parents. Give parents the tools to protect there families first. CP80 solution will work.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Shatrughan sahu, 29 Dec 2016 @ 1:41am

    Xvideo

    Xvideo

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Shatrughan sahu, 29 Dec 2016 @ 1:41am

    Xvideo

    Xvideo

    link to this | view in chronology ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.