Opinion: Losing the Phoney War
In an attempt to assuage the moral outrage of Daily Mail (it's all their idea, you know) and Daily Telegraph readers, David Cameron "wants to declare himself the first prime minister to win the war on on-line porn" What war? The one against the legal, tax-paying industry that successive governments have relaxed restrictions year by year? Oh, the war against child pornography? No that's the one that police forces across the country are fighting, despite the budget cuts. The war against children seeing pornography? Now we're talking. Only we're not. The government issued a fraudulent and hypocriticial set of demands to Internet Service Providers demanding "a commitment to fund an 'awareness campaign' (currently undefined and open-ended) for parents" and to change the language they are using to describe the net safety filters they will be offering to Internet users. Instead of talking of "active choice +", they are urged to us