Apparently the government wants to ban cyber criminals and bullies from teh interwebs.
It calls for police and courts to make more use of existing “cyber sanctions” to restrict access to the social networks and instant messaging services in cases of hacking, fraud and online bullying. Sex offenders and those convicted of harrassment or anti-social behaviour also face more internet restrictions under the new strategy.
Of course, these folk will never have come across TOR networks or anonymous proxies or VPN…
Besides, define a cyber bully. Unlike real bullying, cyber bullies can be deleted and banned with impunity.
It beggars belief the mentality of governments … any of them. They all think that just bringing out a law solves the ‘problem’. This is a classic though as obviously they have no idea how the internet works and how accessible it is …virtually anywhere! 😀
That’ll work well. We know how astudiously criminals obey the letter of the law.
“That’ll work well. We know how astudiously criminals obey the letter of the law.”
I doubt they’re actually interested in what they claim.
This seems more like them getting a foot-in-the-door to try and gain control over the internet.
I’m with Andrew here; they couldn’t care less about the ‘problem’, but they are very, very interested in making it look like they have a solution.
And judging by the majority of comments on stories like these, they will be supported by vast numbers of people who are too dim (or too uninterested in the Internet) to see the dangers…
XX I’m with Andrew here; they couldn’t care less about the ‘problem’, but they are very, very interested in making it look like they have a solution. XX
SO interested they appear they spend most of their time creating problems to solve.
Or is that a bit Orwellian for this time on a Friday night?
I think that this reflects a mentality that affects all government and local government departments. In my area there is a nice bypass that has diverted traffic away from several villages. It is about five miles long and very straight. In a sane world it would be a dual carraigeway but instead it is a single carraigeway but broad enough for three cars. So, idiots don’t have to wait for a gap in the oncoming traffic to get past the dawdling flat cap wearing twonks, you can just barge your way down the middle of the road. Of course the inevitable eventually happened, when there was someone else doing the same thing coming the other way and there was a horrific head on crash involving several fatalities. In order to be seen to be doing something without spending any money, the local authorities imposed a fifty mph speed limit on the road. So, providing that everyone abides by the law, the next head on crash will involve a closing speed of 100 mph instead of 120 mph. Presumably the drivers involved will walk to the side of the road, a little shaken, swop insurance details and then get on with their day.
“SO interested they appear they spend most of their time creating problems to solve.”
It’s one of the main functions of governments, FT. A journo in the US made a similar observation back in the 80s, that politicians are people who create problems and then campaign against them. The only thing he missed was that they’re quite happy to settle on a problem that isn’t really a problem at all but which someone has come to them with a claimed solution for, generally costing a few million of taxpayers’ money.