UK Politicians Decide Police Shouldn't Have The Last Word In Taking Down Website

from the getting-a-judge-involved dept

Over in the UK, it looks like the House of Lords has narrowly (one vote) struck down a proposed law that would allow the police to determine what online content they found objectionable concerning terrorism. Instead, police will need to go to a judge to first get approval in order to ask an ISP to remove content that they feel is dangerous. Is it really such a crazy idea to ask that there be some sort of official process and review when it comes to things like forcing content offline?
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  • identicon
    DV Henkel-Wallace, 1 Feb 2006 @ 4:55pm

    loophole?

    Could you set your server up on Hyde Park corner and publish what you'd like? Perhaps you'd have to set it on a soapbox.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Andrew Fernie, 1 Feb 2006 @ 11:13pm

      Re: loophole?

      Indeed ;-) Here's one for you - try setting it up in Parliament Square, where expressing public dissent concerning the policies of Tony Blair's dicta... regim.. 'government' has become a crime. Yes - that would be right outside the 'birthplace of modern democracy', the 'mother of parliaments'.
      Hah.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Wizard Prang, 2 Feb 2006 @ 7:46am

    It's not about inappropriate websites...

    ...it's about who can take them down.
    Giving the police the power to take down "inappropriate" sites leads to an arbitrary decision as to what is considered "inappropriate".
    This ruling simply means that the final decision has to go through the courts... which I consider a reasonable and necessary check on police power.

    link to this | view in chronology ]


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