Why UK Politicians Hate the Internet & Porn

The UK doesn’t always come immediately to mind when someone thinks about Internet censorship or attempts to restrict online freedom. The fact is, however, many UK politicians have been quietly trying to pass legislation on Internet restriction for years. Some of it has been successful and some of it hasn’t, but the attempts are ongoing. If you live or work in the UK you need to stay abreast of what is happening in the UK and become familiar with why UK politicians seem to hate the Internet.

The Snoopers’ Charter

In 2012, UK Home Secretary Theresa May attempted to get the Snoopers’ Charter passed into law. The Snoopers’ Charter was designed to force ISP’s to monitor the Internet activity of their subscribers. It would permit the monitoring of email conversations, social media activity, and websites visited. Some say that it is a program designed to be similar to the US PRISM program. Thankfully, the fallout over PRISM in the US and subsequent concerns over privacy compelled some liberal UK politicians to oppose the Snoopers’ Charter. Nevertheless, it hasn’t completely vanished from the halls of Parliament. Read more about it here.

The Snoopers’ Charter is just one example of why UK residents and even those who visit the country or work there should be using a VPN. It is quite obvious that some UK politicians don’t like unrestricted Internet access.

EU Data Retention Directive

The EU Data Retention Directive is nothing new—it has been used in a majority of EU countries since 2006. This piece of legislation may be one of the most insidious efforts to curtail Internet freedom in the Western world, yet very few people know about it. What the directive does is force ISP’s to record communications logs and activity of their subscribers and to retain that information for up to two years after a subscriber leaves their service.

Did you know that we do not log the activity of our VPN customers? This alone is one of the most powerful incentives for purchasing a VPN from VPNaccounts.com and using it to browse the Internet securely. Just think about the possibility that someone could use your Web activity against you, even when that activity is harmless. It is a scary thought.

Like most Internet restriction efforts, UK politicians point the finger at terrorism to justify forcing an ISP to retain logs of your activity. In the post 9/11 world, fear has been used to remove many freedoms citizens have come to take for granted. Thankfully, some countries like Germany are resistant to some of these efforts at data retention.

Porn filters and censorship

Some UK politicians really hate Internet porn. The UK porn filter has been in the news and it appears that crackdowns on pornographic websites are now a reality in the UK. While some aspects of the UK porn filter are noble and well-intentioned (it mainly exists to block child pornography and prevent children from accessing porn sites), even some people who oppose porn don’t like it. The reason it because it opens up a whole new avenue of Internet censorship. If the porn filter is proven to be successful, what is to say that UK politicians won’t use similar filters to block news websites or political blogs? What the porn filter does is set a precedent, and in the future similar filters can be placed into operation right under the nose of an unsuspecting public.

The fact is, a lot of people look at porn on the Web. Internet porn is a huge business. If you buy a VPN, a VPN gives you the freedom to decide for yourself what is objectionable and what is not. Isn’t it better for you to have that control rather than giving it over to the UK politicians?  Check out our post on UK porn block

Summing it up

It would be unfair to say that all UK politicians hate the Internet. There are some liberal voices in the UK that continue to fight for personal freedom. Even so, it is far better to make preparations now for any future legislation that will attempt to monitor or curtail your Internet activity. With a variety of server locations to choose from, including Germany,