UK Home office in porn row
p2pnet.net News:- Britain’s Home Office is in trouble because of its radio advertising spot telling kids how to stay safe online.
The problem came after the HO launched its new site, only to fall foul with the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) which banned the ad after a listener was apparently mis-directed to a porn site.
“The problem arose over the spelling of the Web site, www. thinkuknow.co.uk,” says Reuters. “The listener had called up thinkyouknow.co.uk – with an extra ‘y’ and ‘o’ – and had found that site contained links to adult material.”
Er, Yes. But thinkyouknow is one of those generic sites featuring everything from web hosting, cars, gifts, personal financing and computers, to health and beauty. But no porn, at least, not in plain sight. In fact, you’d almost have a better chance of finding it via a typo on Google.
It is, however, there, deeply buried under People Search .
‘Dating’ is one of the categories, together with Personals, Background check, Chat and Singles. And under dating are such goodies as “Wealthy Men Only Elite Dating: Members inc. Glamour Models, Playmates & Centerfolds” and “Look Sexy Naked – Who Else Wants a Slimmer Sexier Body Super Fast?”
“The Home Office/Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) advert was broadcast on 96 Trent FM with the message ‘what you say online isn’t always what a paedophile hears. Giving out personal information could let a paedophile track you down’,” says Reuters.
CEOP, “told the standards authority it was aware of the potential for error but believed teenagers were accustomed to using abbreviations such as ‘u’ in text messages and e-mails,” says the story, adding:
“It noted that the inappropriate material on the other site was at least four clicks away from the home page and that by then any user would have realised they had made a mistake.”
Also See:
Reuters – Child protection site “contained porn links”, August 23, 2006
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August 25th, 2006 at 8:27 am
Imagine the possibilities! Won’t it be a fresh new day when we don’t have to think for ourselves or stand responsible for our own actions? What a glorious dawning it will be when the Internet becomes so thoroughly policed that it will be impossible to view the wrong web sites or inadvertently educate a young person! It will be such a comfort to know that I cannot mistakenly access a web site where I might be tempted to spend some time viewing depictions of the human form in the nude, and even more important: when the time comes that no matter how hard one tries, no matter how determined one might be, to treat oneself to a little eye candy. (Oops! I didn’t mean “treat”, I meant “subject” – I think). But try to imagine a teen chat room where the cyber-presence of an adult signals an unseen alert against sexual predators upon which signal, the police are dispatched to the very homes where those sick people live!
Ah! I can almost taste the joyful exuberance of knowing that my cyber surfing will be carefully monitored, in order to prevent me from turning into a child-molesting monster, like a werewolf turns into a ravenous flesh-tearing beast against his will when the moon waxes full. Or, and this might be more horrendous than any of the rest of the unspeakable possibilities – what if I were just about to stumble onto a web site that threatens to make a LIBERAL out of me! (God forbid!)
So, I am beginning to feel safer about my future and that of my children and their children. I won’t feel totally secure until we see those little alert buttons all over our browsers, and until each mistake we start to make is met with a pop-up that sets us back on the straight and narrow. It is so warming to realize that, like the Home Office in Great Britain, our Department of Justice is so willing and eager to devote its resources to the service of American citizens everywhere. I certainly wouldn’t want to be brainwashed by the propaganda web sites utilized by our enemies.
Besides that, having to configure my own Internet settings has been such a chore, and half the time I don’t understand what sort of decision is being asked of me. For example, what the hell is off-screen compositing? And what is meant by: launching programs and files in an Iframe?
And I won’t need sites like Jon Newton’s p2pnet.net anymore to keep me informed on issues that affect the way I browse and use or share files. I will be able to exercise my rights and liberties in accordance with the way the Government interprets them – that way, I don’t run afoul of the Fuhrer.
Have a nice day!
August 25th, 2006 at 8:29 am
Where did that word come from (Fuhrer)? I’m certain I couldn’t have written it!