Comments on: Censoring porn censorship

By: Herman

Herman — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 13:35:14 +0000

I believe that as human beings we will always want what we are not allowed to have, take for example Prohibition laws in the US in the 1920’s, People drank more even though it was illegal this gave rise to the Mafia. so banning porn will force young people to find new and interesting ways around server side filters and that can be done. that would make them into a South African equivalent of a Mafia boss who based their wealth on downloading porn.
Both my parents are teachers and I am a parent myself. I feel that It is my responsibility to educate my children about porn and not that of the school or the state. With RICA in place the mobile industry can block users based on age from using browsers outside of a specified field. so there is a “smart” solution for the evangelists. Also user profiles can completely block internet use at home so you can stop your 12 year old from farming your cap away and getting inappropriate exposure.
This is just another excuse for parents to avoid raising their own kids. Own up Don’t support a potential bill that will eventually lead to the dictation of the clothes you wear…

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By: walt

walt — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 19:55:22 +0000

a strongly argued piece. Hopefully such resistance to the new bill won’t be necessary because its obviously unconstitutional.

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By: Interloper

Interloper — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 12:07:36 +0000

Rowan you are spot-on with this article. Censoring porn is not the answer to sexual abuse; as most of the abuse cases In SA do not involve porn at all. Abuse is an issue of aggression and lack of respect for humans. More than half of young people in South Africa think that a girl means ‘yes’ when she says ‘no’ and 60% of boys AND girls think it is acceptable to force sex on someone you know. This has nothing to do with porn! This has to do with education and respect; so the focus should be on education, not censorship. Factors that affect sexual abuse are poverty, violent crime and unemployment; and of course the myth that having sex with a virgin cures you of HIV. Seriously anti-porn types; get a grip and look at the real problem.

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By: Sam Vos

Sam Vos — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 20:00:10 +0000

I am a proud South African that am glad for the battles that our country has fought and won, however I feel that the author is trying to have a battle over something that might take place in the future at the expense of a tragedy that is already taking place in the present. Allow me to present the author with a few things to consider:
1) Although I completely uphold freedom of choice & freedom of speech we have to accept that there are times when freedom of choice has to be curtailed in order to protect society at large. This is for instance demonstrated in laws that prevent free use of drugs in society. We all accept that these rules actually protect society, not impede society. In a same way a valid case can be made for restriction to access to porn.
2) As far as costs are concerned, I would like to call on the author to suggest realistic alternatives on how to curb the rampant sexual crimes that exist in our country. Once he has made these suggestions I would then like to call on him to estimate the cost of his suggested alternatives and to then consider if they are cheaper or more expensive than the suggested ban on internet access?
3) I would like to ask the author if watching porn makes you want to have more or less sex. I think it’s obvious to anyone who’s ever watched porn that people want to have more sex for watching it. That being the case I want to hold out that sadly in our country there are those unstable individuals who are not able to negotiate consensual sex. With this being the case they then turn to vulnerable members of society that cannot fend for themselves (eg woman and children) in order to satisfy their heightened sexual desires. This is the crucial difference in the 2 battles that the author is confusing. The one battle is a potential battle that lies in the future of our country namely the erosion of freedom of speech, while the other is a real battle that is already taking place in our country right now. & if you are still not aware of the state of our country, consider for a moment that Childline in Cape Town tells us that every social worker in the Cape Flats is working on 150 cases of sexual abuse of children at any given point in time! Many of which is committed by their own relatives. With societal structures crumbling around us, it is necessary for our government to play a role that families are clearly not able to play at this present point in time. Can you imagine holding your arguments for free access to porn out to a group of 7 year old girls that have been raped for the umpteenth time?! Unfortunately this is the state of our country, we do not have the luxury of relying on healthy family structures to help us in the fight against sexual predators in society & it is therefore at desperate times such as these that government need to take steps to protect the vulnerable members of society that cannot protect themselves.
In conclusion, I would therefore support a restriction of some sorts on access to pornographic material via the internet. Lets fight the freedom of speech battles when they really need to be fought & likewise lets fight the scourge of rape and sexual crimes against children when that battle needs to be fought. I hold that to stand by and fight for free access to pornography at a time when the next generation of our country are literally being raped on a daily basis is a far worse crime than to curtail the fantasy world of some. Lets fight the current battle at hand with the resources that are available at hand.

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By: Thabang

Thabang — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 11:14:35 +0000

I disagree.

You probably dont have kids or young relatives. This is the first step in preserving the value of a woman and girlchild.The principle here is:If you cant see then you cant think. The benefits are superior than the costs in the long-terms. Who cares about ISP’s margin while the country is on a moral downward-spiral.

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By: John

John — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 10:21:59 +0000

An extremely articulate and well argued point. I fully support your call!

I have sometimes wondered whether one should censor viruses, Trojans and worms, only to have it dawn on me that the disadvantage of allowing any form of censorship vastly outweighs the reduced risk.

There are just two important rules to internet content
1. Do not allow interference with internet content in any way.
2. If you are forced to interfere with internet content, refer back to Rule 1.

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