andygates

The "wikipedia censorship" flap is over.  The IWG reversed their decision, saying, "Following representations from Wikipedia, IWF invoked its Appeals Procedure and has given careful consideration to the issues involved in this case. The procedure is now complete and has confirmed that the image in question is potentially in breach of the Protection of Children Act 1978. However, the IWF Board has today (9 December 2008) considered these findings and the contextual issues involved in this specific case and, in light of the length of time the image has existed and its wide availability, the decision has been taken to remove this webpage from our list." (full statement here, including acknowledgment of the Streissand Effect)

This is right and proper, and happened in good time. 

But only one of the filtering ISPs - Demon - told users that they were being filtered and pointed users to the IWF's site.  The others gave a fake 404 error page.  This is really the nub of it: if we're to have filters, we need to know what they are and who runs them.  We need to know that there is an appeals procedure and it needs to work in a timely fashion. 

Wikipedia is an edge case, a high-profile and marginal decision.  It's by no means the only error by "decency" filters - I know of swimwear categorized as smut and kids' swimwear categorized as kiddy smut, and away from smut, political sites were being put on blacklists by their political opponents during the recent US election campaign.  You've got to know who's doing the filtering and it has to be quickly and easily reversible when it is wrong.

Ultimately, filters are broken.  John Gilmore, one of the great beardy gurus of the internet, described it most succinctly: "The Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it."  On a human level, "oh that page is broken, I'll google for another."  On a technical level, proxies and tunnels and encryption and innovation - just ask Chinese nerds. 

BBC Radio 1 have done it again.  I remember when they censored Captain Sensible used a word that began with 'c' - even though it wasn't the c-word.  "Golly baby, I'm a lucky catoblepas".  Well, now they've decided to cut the 'faggot' from the Pogues' Chrimbletide classic Fairytale of New York because "You scumbag, you maggot, you cheap lousy faggot" is insulting.  Of course it's bloody insulting, it's an insult!  But it's not a hot-button word of doom, you have to take it in context and that context is a pair of burned out raddled old romantic drunks. 

What do they want to replace it with?  "You scumbag, you maggot, you cheap lousy unicorn" ?

Fairytale is the one song in the whole benighted seasonal playlist (there's a point, where's the cheesy Hannukah music?  I want a techno remix of the dreidel song, dammit!) -- it's the only song that touches me.  It's a perfect little self-contained gem of flawed pure affection.  Hands off, gutless Bowdlerizing BBC, or Santa will send his ninja elves after you!

(Seriously, Beeb execs (I know you read this): We're British.  Stern stuff.  Not spineless fundies.  Don't give us our own Boobgate.  Please.)