Politalking

In a recent interview with The Daily Telegraph, Culture Secretary Andy Burnham suggested that film-style ratings could be enforced on websites in the future as the government seeks to apply certain standards of decency to its regulation of the internet.

Burnham is reportedly soon to meet with the incoming administration in the US to try and hammer out a dual effort from the US and the UK to form a set of international rules and standards of practice for English-language websites.

Is this ridiculous? Well it makes little difference really. Just like with movies, people younger than the age stated for their admittance to a website will still find a way to get online without any real hassle. It’s hard also to see what exactly they are aiming at regulating. If they are to focus on the videos depicting violence towards strangers or bullying on YouTube, well that’s already being focused on by the site itself, alongside owner Google, so the government will likely only get in the way there. If they want to regulate pornography online, fair enough. But as I said before, teenagers below the age of 18 who want to watch porn online will continue to do so through their own savviness online and through the opportunism of those running the sites to provide links and pathways for those kids to take their parents’ credit cards and order up whatever takes their fancy.

Where else could they regulate really? They could target websites showing pornography involving children. Except the police are likely to be far more effective in punishing those that use these sites. It’s even possible that deterring certain people from watching the furthest reaches of pornography online will take away the pressure valve usage of the internet and drive them outside into the real world where damage can be done far beyond the friction burns on their good hand.

I’m struggling to find anywhere the government can really levy any influence or use in regulating the internet. Part of the appeal of the online environment is that it is self-regulating. People in chat rooms will stick to a certain set of rules and will chide and lambast those breaking the code until order its restored. Message boards and forums have become the place to go to find true reviews and experiences with products and services around the world. Censoring anything written in either of those domains threatens both free speech and a major facet of the internet’s appeal.

So, Mr Burnham. Think once more about what on Earth you can achieve from attempting to regulate the internet, outside of perhaps grabbing the votes of the ignorant few who believe online not to be the next frontier of information and education, but the home of lewd and deviant sexuality and the playground of fraudsters and thieves.

Thankfully, Burnham has been routinely derided (here, here, here and here) for his reactionary idiocy. Not only that, but his Twitter account has been kidnapped too. The internet is mad, Mr Burnham.