This op-ed in today's Wall Street Journal Asia is relevant to this discussion and may be of interest:<br><br><a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124525992051023961.html">http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124525992051023961.html</a><br>
<br>Best,<br>Rebecca<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Jun 18, 2009 at 8:42 AM, Daniel Oppermann <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:dan.oppermann@gmail.com">dan.oppermann@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
Unfortunately filters do not protect children from abuse. And this is<br>
one of the main arguments of the filter's critics. They are mostly<br>
hiding some websites but not doing anything about the business behind<br>
it. Besides that a big part (maybe the biggest part) of child porn<br>
trading does not happen via websites. Which means the filter has no<br>
effect at all about that.<br>
<br>
I understand the interest of politicians and some NGOs (like Save the<br>
Children or others) to do anything to protect children (and getting<br>
votes and/or donations). But using Internet filter is not the right way.<br>
<br>
Over 134.000 signatures in a few weeks is the highest amount an<br>
e-petition has ever gained in Germany (the second biggest has about<br>
52.000 and deals with social security reforms). One important reason why<br>
this topic got so big in Germany is the fact that there is quite a high<br>
sensibility in some parts of the German population regarding privacy and<br>
restrictions of access to information and governmental control in<br>
certain areas. Besides the historic experiences from the time of<br>
dictatorship in the 1930s to 1940s this has also partly to do with the<br>
students' movements in the 1960, the experiences of governmental<br>
controls in the 1970s (era of terrorism), the national discussion about<br>
a population census in the 1980s, the fall of the East German regime in<br>
1989, and the 1990s discussion about the surveillance activities of the<br>
East German secret service (this discussion lasts until today).<br>
<br>
Concluding this I want to say that arguing about the possibilities that<br>
a censorship regime could be installed by this filter can successfully<br>
mobilize a bigger group of people. And as all German online media have<br>
reported quite critically about the filter in the last weeks, signing<br>
the e-petition was just a click away.<br>
<br>
<br>
Best, Daniel<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
Am Mittwoch, den 17.06.2009, 14:56 -0700 schrieb Sylvia Caras:<br>
<div><div></div><div class="h5">> I send an alert about this to a colleague of mine who does human<br>
> rights advocacy in Germany. Her reply very strongly supports the<br>
> filter, that protecting children from abuse trumps any other<br>
> interests.<br>
><br>
> I was surprised in Athens at how strong the 'save the children'<br>
> presence was. I felt like one issue, information freedom, had been<br>
> co-opted by another, protection and that the field was not at all<br>
> level.<br>
><br>
> Sylvia<br>
> ____________________________________________________________<br>
> You received this message as a subscriber on the list:<br>
> <a href="mailto:governance@lists.cpsr.org">governance@lists.cpsr.org</a><br>
> To be removed from the list, send any message to:<br>
> <a href="mailto:governance-unsubscribe@lists.cpsr.org">governance-unsubscribe@lists.cpsr.org</a><br>
><br>
> For all list information and functions, see:<br>
> <a href="http://lists.cpsr.org/lists/info/governance" target="_blank">http://lists.cpsr.org/lists/info/governance</a><br>
<br>
____________________________________________________________<br>
You received this message as a subscriber on the list:<br>
<a href="mailto:governance@lists.cpsr.org">governance@lists.cpsr.org</a><br>
To be removed from the list, send any message to:<br>
<a href="mailto:governance-unsubscribe@lists.cpsr.org">governance-unsubscribe@lists.cpsr.org</a><br>
<br>
For all list information and functions, see:<br>
<a href="http://lists.cpsr.org/lists/info/governance" target="_blank">http://lists.cpsr.org/lists/info/governance</a><br>
</div></div></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Rebecca MacKinnon<br>Open Society Fellow | Co-founder, GlobalVoicesOnline.org<br>Assistant Professor, Journalism & Media Studies Centre, University of Hong Kong<br>
<br>USA: +1-617-939-3493 | HK: +852-6334-8843<br>Mainland China: +86-13710820364<br><br>E-mail: <a href="mailto:rebecca.mackinnon@gmail.com">rebecca.mackinnon@gmail.com</a><br>Blog: <a href="http://RConversation.blogs.com">http://RConversation.blogs.com</a><br>
Twitter: <a href="http://twitter.com/rmack">http://twitter.com/rmack</a><br>Friendfeed: <a href="http://friendfeed.com/rebeccamack">http://friendfeed.com/rebeccamack</a><br>