Finland Censoring Sites Police Don't Like, Falsely Claiming They Contain Child Porn
from the blocked! dept
Back in 2002, we wrote about how the Australian government was forcing ISPs to block sites that it claimed displayed child pornography. Last year, the government wanted to allow Australian police to add to the blocklist. The problem was that there was no review whatsoever -- and no way to make sure the sites being blocked actually were questionable, rather than just sites the police didn't like. When we raised this question back in 2002, someone responsible for the filters in Australia argued with us in the comments that we were wrong to question the policy and insisting that, even though there was no way to determine what was being banned, we should just trust those in charge of the filters that it was for our own good. Of course, when a government representative (or a representative of a company doing the government's will) says "just trust us," you know you should be worried.To prove that point, take a look at what's happening in Finland, where a very similar law is in place, specifically designed to have ISPs block child pornography. There's just one little problem. An investigation into what's being blocked shows that many of the sites on the list appear to contain no pornography at all (child or otherwise). However, among the sites blocked is an anti-censorship site that argues against Finland's policies. There are also the website for a doll company and some computer help forums. The research also showed that there are plenty of "adult oriented" sites, but that most of them appear to be perfectly legal and have nothing to do with child pornography at all. However, since the list isn't public and there's no way to know what's on the list (other than thanks to researchers like those who brought this to light) it's tough for anyone to know if the government is actually abiding by the law. Once again, it looks like you shouldn't "just trust" the government when it claims it's protecting you.
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Filed Under: censorship, finland
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Cops
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wasn't there a country that did this before?
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That's democracy
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Yottabyte's desire to live under Pakistani rule.
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Missed detail...
While the blocking of an activist site is a problem to begin with, I find it more appalling that they are breaking the law just to do so. Not that he does, but even if his site did indeed contain child pornography, they should be prosecuting him - not just blocking him.
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Inevitable
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Nothings changed.
It all boils down to 'I know better than you'.. Unfortunately they don't.
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Iran/China, et al.
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Bureaucrats
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...Bad reporting...
Glancing through the list (http://lapsiporno.info/suodatuslista/?lang=en) I can only find 1 (one) instance of a false positive. And that's the site itself. (lapsiporno.info)
While I am firmly opposed to censorship, it's none of the governments business to block sites, it's more important to capture the badguys that make/distribute childporn. (but if they keep on doing it, let's at least have some form of recourse in case someone's site becomes a false positive.)
While I'm firmly against all that, I'm also against alarmists reporting.
I know Techdirt is only reporting what other sites are reporting (and all those other sites are wrong as well), but I think that's irresponsible.
A quick glance at the list would already raise some flags around the truth that other sites claim to report on. Almost all (bar one) were at least sites with very racy names, now I haven't done any in-depth research on all of those links, but a site named like 'mypussyhot' does sound rather pornographic.
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Re: ...Bad reporting...
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Re: ...Bad reporting...
I would say that the only misleading part of the article is the use of the phrase many of the sites on the list appear to contain no pornography at all. Most of the sites on the list do appear to be pornographic, with a few exceptions.
The accusation is not that the sites contain porn, but that they contain child pornography. Obviously the majority of the list is composed of pornographic sites, but unless you've gone through and visited each site, how can you claim there is only one false-positive? You have apparently misunderstood the article if you are assuming the list is supposed to ban pornographic material.
While I am firmly opposed to censorship, it's none of the governments business to block sites, it's more important to capture the badguys that make/distribute childporn.
If I'm reading this correctly, you're saying it's ok for the government to block sites it doesn't like as long as they catch a few that had childporn on them?
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Re: Re: ...Bad reporting...
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Re: Re: Re: ...Bad reporting...
Hence the "If I'm reading this correctly" portion of my post. I allowed for the possibility of misunderstanding your statement, because as written it isn't a proper sentence, and it wasn't clear to me what you were trying to say. Since I apparently misinterpreted that portion of your post, anything directly following the "reading this correctly" part of my response would be null and void.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: ...Bad reporting...
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Re: ...Bad reporting...
Glancing through the list (http://lapsiporno.info/suodatuslista/?lang=en) I can only find 1 (one) instance of a false positive. And that's the site itself. (lapsiporno.info)
So you're claiming that you're familiar with all the sites on that list and know that they all (except one) contain child porn? You're full of shit.
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Re: Re: ...Bad reporting...
I talked about glancing through the list (mostly to see names) FFS, and regarded the list more as a Pornography filter rather than just child pornography.
You people keep reading things into my message that I definitely NOT was saying. I f-ing hate the English language now. I'll stick to Dutch the next time.
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Re: Re: Re: ...Bad reporting...
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Re: Re: Re: Re: ...Bad reporting...
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Re: ...Bad Reporting
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Then - why don't they follow their own advice and 'Trust citizens not to go to those pages'? Or are the politicians and law enforcement 'more honest' than the average citizen?
And while they are at it - why don't they just 'Trust citizens' to pay their taxes willingly? If that sounds funny - it's no different than 'trust politicians' to manage the massive income from taxation in a responsible way. After all - I'd really rather trust someone who DOES NOT base their entire career on the desire to control others. Just the fact that someone is a politician, should make a person cynical from the very start.
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This site has an analysis of the list of censored sites in English with the results being that at least 90 % of the sites are legal and only 9 sites (less than 1 %) illegal.
It wasn't mentioned in the article that the owner of the censored activist site is also being called for questioning by the police, for aiding in the distribution of child pornography by linking to the censored websites.
This whole thing is totally ridiculous and frustrating but as a Finnish person I'm really glad this whole debacle happened so soon after the censorship system being implemented. Until now mainstream Finnish press hasn't been interested in the subject at all.
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Damned paternalist.
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Ashamed to be a Finn now!
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Arrest the guy
Ah, yes, but the arrest of one person (or a few people) doesn't have quite the same impact as a government-mandated filter to block anything they don't like, I mean, anything with "child porn".
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Congratulations on inclusion in Carnival of Trust
( http://trustedadvisor.com/carnivalofTrust/
hosted this month by Duncan Bucknell's IPThinkTank blog
http://duncanbucknell.com/blog/288/The-March-2008-Carnival-of-Trust
It really is a classic, isn't it? The best way to guarantee that someone will not trust you is to say--trust me.
It's particularly absurd when the one saying "trust me" is in a position to exert power over the other. We make a serious exclusion to this cynical perspective in the case of kids--but even then, they can't always trust their parents.
More relevantly, it's amazing how often we find ad and PR agencies saying "trust me," governments, elected officials, corporate leaders, religious leaders, sports leaders. Trust me--it'll all be OK.
In fact, the tendency to doubt gets twisted by these people- into some accusation of lack of faith--as if to question why omeone in a position of unchecked power is somehow an act of treason.
Anyway, congrats on the selection, and thanks for the great post.
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Child Porn..
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More about Finland
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