<story><title>UK Porn Filter Will Censor Other Content Too, ISPs Reveal</title><url>http://torrentfreak.com/uk-porn-filter-will-censor-other-content-too-isps-reveal-130726/?utm_source=dlvr.it&amp;utm_medium=twitter</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>InclinedPlane</author><text>This deserves a lot more of a response but for now I&amp;#x27;ll just leave this:&lt;p&gt;Liberty is about the ability of the individual to do things that others disapprove of. You don&amp;#x27;t need liberty if everyone else approves of your actions. As a corollary, the exercise of liberty does not require a justification, because it&amp;#x27;s a liberty, practicality or &amp;quot;usefulness&amp;quot; or what-have-you play no part in it. It&amp;#x27;s onerous to require someone to justify their right to look at porn. It&amp;#x27;s even more onerous to ask people to put their name on a list as someone who desires the ability to look at porn. And indeed this is how freedoms are eroded. Because once you put things on a different footing and you require people to justify their freedoms then it becomes ever more difficult to justify anything. Can you justify eating a cheap, greasy cheeseburger? Can you justify watching &amp;quot;Jersey Shore&amp;quot;? Are you willing to?&lt;p&gt;These are precisely the same sorts of tactics that have been used since the dawn of time for busybodies to rein in individual freedoms of others, and thereby to obtain greater authority over others.&lt;p&gt;People often dismiss out of hand the notion that tyranny could possibly take hold over the first world democracies of the west in the 21st century. And to that I can only sigh. Perhaps it will not be known as tyranny, perhaps someone will come up with a different, more apt name once (if) we are in the clutches of it, but it will be every bit as bad and every bit as difficult to throw off, if not more so.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>jivatmanx</author><text>&amp;gt;People often dismiss out of hand the notion that tyranny could possibly take hold over the first world democracies of the west in the 21st century&lt;p&gt;I think that the two most famous tyrannies, the Nazis and the USSR, have given us a very narrow impression of how tyranny can take hold. We think, as long as there isn&amp;#x27;t a charismatic Hitler&amp;#x2F;Lenin figure agitating for revolution and preaching a radical ideology, that we&amp;#x27;re safe.&lt;p&gt;We should be concerned the about the general erosion of the republican immune system - 1. Judiciary: Laws weakening judges in favor of prosecutors, vast unfilled judge vacancies, the FISA court. 2. The Legislature: The utter contempt shown for the people&amp;#x27;s branch by the military&amp;#x2F;executive, the troubling trend of the public echoing this. 3. Worshiping the guys with rows of medals and funny hats, giving them massive political power (Keith Alexander).&lt;p&gt;EDIT: I found two relevant James Madison quotes:&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;Since the general civilization of mankind, I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power, than by violent and sudden usurpations&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;The accumulation of all powers, Legislative, Executive, and Judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny. &amp;quot;</text></comment>
<story><title>UK Porn Filter Will Censor Other Content Too, ISPs Reveal</title><url>http://torrentfreak.com/uk-porn-filter-will-censor-other-content-too-isps-reveal-130726/?utm_source=dlvr.it&amp;utm_medium=twitter</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>InclinedPlane</author><text>This deserves a lot more of a response but for now I&amp;#x27;ll just leave this:&lt;p&gt;Liberty is about the ability of the individual to do things that others disapprove of. You don&amp;#x27;t need liberty if everyone else approves of your actions. As a corollary, the exercise of liberty does not require a justification, because it&amp;#x27;s a liberty, practicality or &amp;quot;usefulness&amp;quot; or what-have-you play no part in it. It&amp;#x27;s onerous to require someone to justify their right to look at porn. It&amp;#x27;s even more onerous to ask people to put their name on a list as someone who desires the ability to look at porn. And indeed this is how freedoms are eroded. Because once you put things on a different footing and you require people to justify their freedoms then it becomes ever more difficult to justify anything. Can you justify eating a cheap, greasy cheeseburger? Can you justify watching &amp;quot;Jersey Shore&amp;quot;? Are you willing to?&lt;p&gt;These are precisely the same sorts of tactics that have been used since the dawn of time for busybodies to rein in individual freedoms of others, and thereby to obtain greater authority over others.&lt;p&gt;People often dismiss out of hand the notion that tyranny could possibly take hold over the first world democracies of the west in the 21st century. And to that I can only sigh. Perhaps it will not be known as tyranny, perhaps someone will come up with a different, more apt name once (if) we are in the clutches of it, but it will be every bit as bad and every bit as difficult to throw off, if not more so.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>josh2600</author><text>You make a number of excellent points, but the distinction you&amp;#x27;re drawing is actually more broad than just justification of liberty.&lt;p&gt;Anytime one makes a differentiation between two things, beauty and ugliness, skill and stupidity, light and dark, one is making a value judgement. The act of segregation, in and of itself, implies evaluation, weighing and judgement.&lt;p&gt;I believe that prejudgement (or prejudice) is antithetical to democracy. The idea that looking at porn should require justification is so wrong-headed I don&amp;#x27;t even know where to begin.&lt;p&gt;Sometimes I feel like in the 21st century, our industry (tech) is focused on making dreams come true, whereas our body politic is only interested in rehashing the same problems we&amp;#x27;ve dealt with since the dawn of time. Why the hell are we even discussing a pornography filter when there are so many real, gigantic problems out there.&lt;p&gt;Maddening.</text></comment>