Canadian ISPs Try To Play Whack-A-Mole On Blocking Child Porn Sites

from the well-intentioned,-but-misguided dept

Tue, Nov 28th 2006 2:16am — Mike Masnick

Joe Smith writes in to tell us that Canada's biggest ISPs have all agreed to block a list of child porn sites so that Canadian surfers will be unable to reach them. This is, obviously, well-intentioned, but like similar blocks in the US in the past (and similar attempts in Canada to get ISPs to block other kinds of sites), it seems to be the wrong solution. While the Canadian ISPs have been careful about this, and are specifically working with one organization who will provide the list (so they don't need to make the determination themselves), it still raises some questions about who actually creates the list. But, much more importantly, this is about sweeping the problem under the rug, rather than actually facing up to the problem. The people who really want to get to these sites will still figure out ways to get to them. If their ISP blocks it, they'll figure out a way around the block. Meanwhile, the sites in question will keep changing and moving around to get away from the block. The real solution is to find those who are actually responsible for the sites and stop them, rather than pretending you can block access to a site. Blocking access makes people think they've solved the problem when they've done no such thing.

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

15 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

Panaqqa, 28 Nov 2006 @ 3:51am

Yup, sounds like a typical Canadian approach...
Of course if they block sites on a list, they can claim they are doing something when they really aren't. Watch how, when perverts are still able to access them, they suddenly "discover" there's such a thing as a proxy - and they then call for a "Royal Commission" to examine the "proxy problem".

Obviously tracking down the people who put these sites up and arresting them is too much work - plus they can't find the technical skills needed and still maintain their commitment to "workplace diversity".
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
mikie, 28 Nov 2006 @ 3:55am

why can't they do both?

block the sites AND search for the buggers ....
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- ebrke, 28 Nov 2006 @ 7:20am
  
  Re:
  I think a lot of the problem may be that the sites are hosted in countries that don't have much interest in tracking down purveyors of child pornography.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Bryan Bueno, 28 May 2011 @ 10:44am
  
  Response to: mikie on Nov 28th, 2006 @ 3:55am
  I willing to work on to get porn and other things that relate sites that has sex in it.
  
  I already have dance crew and going to get the message across every part of the united states.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Bryan Bueno, 28 May 2011 @ 10:45am
  
  Response to: mikie on Nov 28th, 2006 @ 3:55am
  I willing to work on to get porn and other things that relate sites that has sex in it.
  
  I already have dance crew and going to get the message across every part of the united states.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Spartacus, 28 Nov 2006 @ 4:18am

A good idea
This doesn't seem so foolish to me. Sure there are plenty of ways around it and it would be better to actually go after the people hosting kiddy porn but that doesn't mean that this will be completely ineffectual.

I would wager a lot of money on the fact that most kiddy porn sites are hosted outside of Canada or the USA and as a result Canada is pretty limited as to how much they can "find out who is responsible for the sites and stop them".

Sure the people who are completely addicted to kiddy porn are probably going to keep accessing it. But to the person who dabbles in legal porn, having the ISP's block the sites is probably a decent way to keep the casual porn-surfer from getting into illegal porn. I would bet that most people addicted to kiddy porn were addicted to legal porn first and just got deeper and deeper so that they could keep getting pleasure out of it and wound up getting into the illegal stuff. Blocking that stuff as much as possible from an ISP level would probably help those people not get into it simply because they would probably be less prone to search for ways around the blocks.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Contributor, 28 Nov 2006 @ 7:14am
  
  Re: A good idea
  Right on--in the heat of the moment, when "average joe" porn surfer is just looking for the bit that will take him to the next level of titillation, he’s clicking and clicking and doesn’t care where he’s going. Nor does he care if the link he just tried is down. He just wants the next hit.
  
  So, more broken links to illegal and extremely unhealthy porn seems like a reasonably hopeful exercise. The only problem is... we all know how easy it is to change a link...
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
mousepaw, 28 Nov 2006 @ 4:24am

Re: blocking porn
Canadians do both track and block. We have "kiddie porn" squads searching and stinging, working in concert with US officials, et al. (The porn perveyors, read: predators, don't stay in one place very long.) There is still some help required from the masses i.e., reporting but these teams are catching them and dealing with them.

I'm pretty sure everybody knows that blocking isn't the solution. It's a band-aid. The idea that out of sight, out of mind might have been the focus. One would have to know the exact URL to circumvent the block and since it can't be found in a search, they're scratching a long list of would-be viewers. Narrowing the field.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
dorpus, 28 Nov 2006 @ 5:20am

Why they aren't caught
because Russian child porn makers can host it on a Nauruan web site via a Moldovan ISP.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 28 Nov 2006 @ 5:47am

Techdirt is being hypocritical...
There's no need to say go after the folks MAKING the kiddie porn, or even the folks DISTRIBUTING it, as there is a very good possibility that its not illegal where they are doing it.

So the only person responsible in canada is the consumer. ISP's shoudnt even agree to this type of arrangement, because it sets upon them the RESPONSIBILITY of monitoring and controlling the internet, and they are just a service provider. Not an internet police force. This type of agreement changes that in an irreversible fashion.

No, instead we should all think like good little techdirties and try to come up with a way that the kiddie porn industry can make their lack of scarcity more valuable instead.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Josh, 28 Nov 2006 @ 6:02am

Huh?
Are you suggesting its the ISP's job to catch child molesters?
They're doing the part they can which is to try and block people from stumbling upon them. Thats all they can do. Perhaps you should ask the police to catch the actual molesters and not disparage ISP's from blocking the known sites.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Jeff LK, 28 Nov 2006 @ 6:33am

You've Misread the Intent
The main reason for the ISPs blocking these sites isn't as much to stop the slimeballs and perverts, but to reduce the availability of these sites to youth and children, so they can't locate them accidentally, or through nefarious means. granted it's about as useful as swinging a tennis rachet at an attacking swarm of mosquitos, but it's better than nothing until those bastards are caught.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
babooom, 28 Nov 2006 @ 8:28am

I would do it
given this isn't the only thing that should be done by the government. but as far as the ISP goes it is one of the only things they can do. if I owned a ISP and realized that kiddy porn was being distributed through MY service I would do every thing I could to stop it.

the only additional action would be to actively report any child porn that is being distributed from Canada or the US.

though there are plenty of other anonymos ways of distributing and obtaining child porn.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
anonymouse, 28 Nov 2006 @ 9:28am

..
Do we really want the ISPs filtering content?
Steep and slippery slope we have stumbled upon, where exactly does it end?

'You cannot access techdirt.com this site has found to be in violation of the Canadian Regulation And Protection act.'
"Damn I've been CRAP'd on again!'
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
|333173|3|_||3, 28 Nov 2006 @ 7:45pm

If I were an ISP and I spotted somehing, chances are I would just ell the guy thathe was breaking the TOS (if he was), and tell him that i didn't want to _see_ any more of it.

"HWack a mole" has the whole idea in a nutshel, since it has no hope of working. Whats wrong with IP over DNS, it works on most proxies, plus some ISPs don't charge for DNS traffic?

Good luck though :)
[ link to this | view in chronology ]