Well, you say child porn websites. I guess if you overlook the inadvertent blocks of Wikipedia and the wayback machine then yes, probably most of it isn't very pleasant. Given that the IWF is something of a law unto itself though I guess you'd never know. Down the memory hole we go.

As for 'fabulous web-filters'. Yes, we do. One of them is called Cleanfeed. And that started as child porn block. And now it's blocking links to downloads of copyrighted content at the behest of the MPA. I'm not sure what it'll be blocking tomorrow, or next month, or next year. Or why. Oh well. At least it's not a opaque, commercially provided entity with little in the way of oversight or transparency with the power to silently fence off content the powers that be don't agree with. Ah. Hang on...

It differs because society hadn't already consigned them to the history books. Glad to see the spirit of Ayn Rand is alive and kicking. Hooray for us. Bagsie next trip to Rapture!

Of course they're at war. This is one of the most incompetent and scientifically illiterate governments in living memory. It's packed full of lunatic ideologues like Ian Duncan Smith and Teresa May who sideline professional academic advice time and time again in favour of their own prejudices stupidity and ignorance. I just wish their misguided, harmful and plain unworkable policies wouldn't wreck this countries social and political fabric for generations to come. It would be funny if the human cost wasn't so high

And you know what? In spite of this, the main opposition is still unable to differentiate itself as a better alternative than this shower of charlatans, bigots and liars.

I despair at this country. I really do.

"If it's Boeing, I ain't going..."

Heh, I know it's bad form to reply to your own post, but a quote from the Guardian story on this made me laugh.

The papers said the body of one male worker at the plant had been "found carbonised", but it added that there was no evidence that the explosion had "caused any radioactive leak".

A spokesman for the French atomic energy authority told journalists: "For the moment, there is nothing coming out."

Emphasis, mine, obviously.

Would this be the same "they" who concocted the tissue of lies and half truths regarding the damage to the Fukushima plant, or is it some other reputable "they" who always tell the truth, no matter the personal cost, when something bad happens to their employers on their watch?

Frankly, in light of the current reputation of the nuclear industry, I think it's understandable people might be a little oversensitive to, ooh, I don't know, explosions at a nuclear waste processing site.

Rather a healthy skepticism about the words of a tarnished industry than a collective head in the sand blindly accepting the word of PR as truth. Sheesh. You're just as bad as those who insist on claiming the sky is falling all the time.

Heh, Mensch is a loudmouth with only a tangential connection to reality. I wouldn't take what she had to say too seriously. Besides. I don't see why the policy on digital rights should be any less zig-zag and arbitrary than anything else that shower come up with. Cameron, Gove et al have been making up policy on the hoof since they returned to power. This is just one more example of the woeful disconnect between what reality is and what they'd like it to be. Ah well. I guess we all get the politicians we deserve.

Christ. What a waste of time. A self selecting young, predominantly urban, affluent, middle class, college educated demographic is generally more liberal than the rest of the population? Well, I for one, am shocked.

No, not really. What would be more interesting is in looking at what the distribution for those attitudes looks like. I'd guess Mac users would represent a classic bell curve while PC users would have a much less predictable pattern. But then I wouldn't expect the people who do this kind of "research" have any interest beyond trolling in the first place. No questions about conformity or deference to authority either. That'd be an interesting outcome...

Surely blocking traffic to expertsexchange would only force people to visit sites like EnthusiasticAmateurSexChange, DufusOnTheStreetSexChange and NotSureWhatItWasButNowItsDamnedScarySexChange instead?

No-one wants that. Clearly your solution falls victim to the law of unintended consequences. Think before you post next time.

Depends, are we talking Duck Hunt?

Heh, nothing against you personally, but when I read comments about "how installing {insert Linux distro here} on Granny's machine meant problems dropped by 90%", I wonder if Granny simply stopped using her computer quite so much or whether she simply doesn't ask for advice anymore...

Yeah, but that's bobbins though, isn't it? There's a reason airplane cockpits are designed the way they are. There's a reason nuclear power station control surfaces are designed the way they are. In fact there's a very good reason why anything that could really go bang has input devices that are designed to diminish the possibility of user error.

Just saying "pay attention" isn't enough. No-one, not you, certainly not me, can attend exactly to what they're doing for every second of every minute of every day.