[ubuntu-uk] Mobile internet proxy

[Chris Rowson]

On Feb 19, 2008 3:31 PM, Alan Pope <alan at popey.com> wrote:
> On Tue, Feb 19, 2008 at 02:58:41PM +0000, Chris Rowson wrote:
> > Both told me that they could unblock what they referred to somewhat
> > amusingly as the "top shelf" sites but not this one. I did point out
> > that browsing pornography on a mobile phone was sad, and that they
> > should just do as I asked but got referred back to the company
> > rulebook.
> >
>
> According to a friend of mine...
>
> "The IWF watchlist is an optional thing for ISPs to do but they and the govt
> have hinted that unless all UK ISPs use it then they might make it law.
> It's very difficuly to tell whether the site you are trying to visit is
> blocked because it's blocked by IWF, and viewing it knowing that it is
> blocked by IWF is illegal. Members of the IWF have a dispensation from the
> govt to view the stuff that is blocked, but for anyone else it's illegal.
> The IWF list is only supposed to list child abuse and incitement to hatred,
> so the site you are after (mowser.com) is probably blocked on some other
> list, which your ISP will likely never admit to."
>
>
I image that three are blocking that particular site either because a)
it allows people to defeat existing content filtering because it is a
proxy or b) because it is designed to reduce the data transfer
required when browsing the web from a mobile phone (and they won't
want that).

I don't believe that viewing sites on a block list is illegal in
itself (i.e. if a proxy was on the IWF blocklist, and you use it to
view bbc.co.uk you aint' breaking the law) but if you where to view a
site from the child abuse section you of course would be breaking the
law (but because it's a child abuse site and not because it's on the
IWF watchlist).

Because part of the job I do at the mo involves providing internet
access to the public, every now and again a situation occurs were
someone views something illegal. We can only make a copy of that
material for evidence purposes on the instruction (and usually in the
presence) of a police officer.

This thing with three has got up my nose though lol!!!

Cheers

Chris