Put simply, this sort of filtering does not work. There are simply too many ways to get around it, most of which if blocked would result in internet businesses leaving the UK extremely rapidly and not coming back; the government would not be idiotic enough to blanket-block SSH, VPN and SSL services.
However, if they do not block SSH and VPN, together with encrypted web proxies running over SSL then the web content block becomes trivially easy to circumvent, and since free proxies and free offshore VPN services abound these days then this would rapidly become the method of choice for the would-be teenage porn-hound. Other technologies would include filesharing inside the UK, near-field file transmission technologies such as are becoming common on smartphones these days, and the venerable old trick of burning data to CD or SD card and swapping that.
Small ISPs are not initially going to be required to fit these internet filter systems, either, so the attitude of Alan and Andrews ISP may well become common (Either accept our complete lack of filtering, or bugger off somewhere else). This filtering system is looking to have more and more holes even as I write this!
The long and the short of this is that this filtering system is effectively a very good way of annoying huge numbers of people, clobbering a lot of the internet economy and pouring money into the pockets of the usual suspects (Crapita, Electronic Disaster Systems and their manky ilk) and achieving very little indeed. It is also wise to remember that UK governments of any stripe have form for being truly crap with computer projects; the NHS computer upgrade has cost over ten thousand million pounds so far, with no deliverable achieved! One partner even bought their way out of their bit of the contract from sheer frustration!
Please, can we have someone who is merely mildly insane elected to Parliament, instead of these dangerous morons?
Put simply, this sort of filtering does not work. There are simply too many ways to get around it, most of which if blocked would result in internet businesses leaving the UK extremely rapidly and not coming back; the government would not be idiotic enough to blanket-block SSH, VPN and SSL services.
ReplyDeleteHowever, if they do not block SSH and VPN, together with encrypted web proxies running over SSL then the web content block becomes trivially easy to circumvent, and since free proxies and free offshore VPN services abound these days then this would rapidly become the method of choice for the would-be teenage porn-hound. Other technologies would include filesharing inside the UK, near-field file transmission technologies such as are becoming common on smartphones these days, and the venerable old trick of burning data to CD or SD card and swapping that.
Small ISPs are not initially going to be required to fit these internet filter systems, either, so the attitude of Alan and Andrews ISP may well become common (Either accept our complete lack of filtering, or bugger off somewhere else). This filtering system is looking to have more and more holes even as I write this!
The long and the short of this is that this filtering system is effectively a very good way of annoying huge numbers of people, clobbering a lot of the internet economy and pouring money into the pockets of the usual suspects (Crapita, Electronic Disaster Systems and their manky ilk) and achieving very little indeed. It is also wise to remember that UK governments of any stripe have form for being truly crap with computer projects; the NHS computer upgrade has cost over ten thousand million pounds so far, with no deliverable achieved! One partner even bought their way out of their bit of the contract from sheer frustration!
Please, can we have someone who is merely mildly insane elected to Parliament, instead of these dangerous morons?
LOL Why is there no "Like" button here??? :D
ReplyDelete