It would be easy enough to show that becoming a poet didn't make someone happy. But if they became a poet, and then became happy? Surely its pretty obvious that the connection wouldn't be testable in the slightest.
How about a 1 mile (square) zone, rather than 1 mile away from you? So you just cut everything up into mile-square slices, and you can talk with everyone in your slice... Concept is basically the same, but should overcome that issue.
"Bad parenting is the real problem ... not rely on filters of dubious effectiveness."
I'm not sure how this is an argument against the filter? We agree that "parents need to supervise and educate their children about internet use", in the same way that parents need to supervise and educate their children about crossing the road. That doesn't mean we do away with traffic lights. The filter will surely help facilitate parents in their efforts to protect their children. If they don't want it, they can have it removed.
"It also sets a poor precedent that objectionable content can be blocked ... promote education over flimsy, disruptive, and money-wasting "solutions"."
This is really the same argument, reiterated. Why not promote both good parenting and "solutions"? Many people don't have the technical expertise to set up filters of this kind on their own (I would suggest that in many households, computers are used almost exclusively by the children). They might have the desire to be responsible parents in this area, but not know how to go about doing it.
The only other point raised here is the "poor precedent" of blocking content. Is the argument here that it will lead to blocking of more content in the future? If so this a slippery slope fallacy. There is no evidence that this is the case. And if you really need to carry on watching porn, give your ISP a call. No one is stopping you.
"Is the argument here that it will lead to blocking of more content in the future? If so this a slippery slope fallacy."
No it's not because U.K. ISPs have revealed that the filter will censor other content, as well.
"As well as pornography, users may automatically be opted in to blocks on "violent material", "extremist related content", "anorexia and eating disorder websites" and "suicide related websites", "alcohol" and "smoking". But the list doesn't stop there. It even extends to blocking "web forums" and "esoteric material", whatever that is. "Web blocking circumvention tools" is also included, of course." [1]
The bottom line is that if you don't want your children to be exposed to content that may be questionable, don't let them get on the Internet. Set a password on your computer. Install a filtering program which don't require any technical expertise to install whatsoever. Hell, Windows has a web filter build in now a days. Don't force your preposterous views on to me. The government has no place restricting legal content. I'm tired of these bullshit "Think of the children!" arguments.
I'm not even convinced that blocking pornography somehow protects children anyway. Pornography on the modern internet largely needs to be sought out and if an adolescent kid is seeking it out I don't see that as a big deal.
I don't know what the culture is like in the UK, but if it's similar to the puritanical shame nonsense prevalent in the US surrounding sex - than filtering the internet seems like an extension of that rather than solving any real problem.
Then of course there's all the associated problems that complicate things when you start restricting speech on a communication medium.
I wasn't aware of that. Such broadly defined terms are a worry, I would agree. I live in China so I have an idea of how a government might use such tools for its own ends while presenting it in a way that sounds like they're helping the population.
I'm not worried about my children (although I don't have any yet). But I think in many household this will be for the good. As I said, it's not uncommon for children to know more about computing than their parents.
I seem to be alone here in thinking pornography is a bad thing. I find it strange that you would say such a view was "preposterous", though. It certainly isn't unusual, outside of the tech/geek world. I would be quite happy if pornography were illegal. That said, I realise the argument for government intervention in this way is a difficult one to make.
Tolerance is the word you need to look up. If this technical way to censure the internet is implemented in a society that boast to be free, this is just another way to control information. Which can very easily degenerate into intolerant views.
Just imagine that tomorrow the common view in the UK is that China and all its citizen are the spawn of the devil, and any message coming to contradict this is to be censored out of the british internet, because it goes against the official view .... Only the technical savy being able to see what are the views from of others outside the UK.
Imposing your view onto others is not the way forward.
All laws are, in effect, a form of imposing the views of some onto others. Tolerence is a word that is held in such esteem as to be almost untouchable in our generation. I understand its meaning but reject the idea that is the answer to everything. A sexual appetite for children, for example, should not be tolerated (I'd imagine we agree). We simply draw our own lines at different points.
I agree with the general sentiment that the government regularly over step their mark in terms of involvement in our lives and attempts to control our activity and freedom of expression. However, I am happy to see voices speaking up against pornography which I see as a plague on our society.
I've never heard of Doxing (and I read HN) while "Human Flesh Search" is a commonly understood term amoung young people in China. That said, China effectively has a single, unified internet culture, not the many sub-cultures of the english-language internet.
Human Flesh Search is just "人肉搜索" translated word by word, but literally it just means Manual Search, in contrast with automatic search done by machines.
"人肉搜索" coveres a very wide range of topics from its root http://dzh.mop.com/renrou (much like 4chan). E.g. Given the pic with part of a boob and ask for who the celeb is, or some random pic with a nice dress and ask where to buy it. Or you "人肉" the scammer on some Chinese craigslist sites. So later it envolvs identifcation of corrupt official's expensive watch. Theere's a karma-like system to keep the online community engaged.
I welcome the day when this practice, or something similar, catches on in India. Almost every Indian politician has a criminal record, is a thief who siphons money into tax shelters, and does all of this with impunity. Sadly, this trickles down to all the government employees, cops included. This kind of citizen action will expose the crooks for their wrongs and create accountability. Shame is a powerful motivator for change...
It's not too bad. That works out at about 12.5 RMB / hour, more than someone would make working a night shift at KFC here in Guizhou (I expect in Shen Zhen it would be a little higher). I work at a coffee shop owned by my friend here; 6 - 10 RMB / hour is quite typical for unskilled labour. Also, chances are that these factory workers have free accomodation and subsidised food which makes a significant difference.
The journalist also notes that "there aren’t enough workers to fill the positions at the factory as they keep resigning". This doesn't neccessarily mean its a bad place to work. I hardly have any friends that haven't quit at least one job in the last year or two. Modern Chinese culture -- particularly among young people -- accepts quitting your job, messing around for a few months ("playing" in Chinese) and then finding another as quite normal.
How many people do you think are migrant workers? People who come from an area where that pay is a lot more than they get back home, work for a certain period of time before resigning. Then they either go back home or find a better paying job in the new area.
Having been a migrant worker myself, I think this is a great way for the mobility of young people, especially when the jobs offer accommodation too.
I have a friend who took an English teaching job in China to pay off his (admittedly not as big as yours but nonetheless substantial) student debt. He's recently out of college and has no teaching experience. Sound stupid? His job pays $4,500/month AFTER tax and accommodation is included. Factor in the substantially lower cost of living (he's in a poorer area of China, not Shanghai or Guangzhou etc) and you can easily save > $4000/month. The added benefit for someone like yourself is that you could potentially do some freelance work at the same time. Although many teaching jobs pay less than the one I just mentioned, most will leave you with a decent amount of free time on your hands. Hours are typically 15-30 per week. Just thought I'd throw that anecdote into the mix...
Other directors are big enthusiasts. The makers of RED have been pretty upfront about some of the drawbacks of the RED ONE from the beginning. Everyone was pretty much using a beta product at least for the first couple of years. They've said that EPIC wont be the same way; it will be a complete product from day one. Perhaps that's why it's taking so long to release. RE: price, compare it with its direct competitors and it's something of a steal. Lots of people that bought the RED ONE made a killing from their investment.
I'm surprised this is from the government. It comes across as very spammy - like an affiliate marketing site. The copy reads like a content farm and most of the links are basically ads for different services. Surely the government can't be that strapped for cash?! Good idea, horrible execution.. (Though the site design is quite nice).
It has govt. backing (maybe funding, not sure), but this is from the private sector.
I am slightly suspicious of the fact that the people listed on the "About Us" page appear to have things to sell in this field. For example a link to a "startup kit" with a book by
Emma Jones is linked from the first page.
It's fine if this is killer material and good stuff, and I hope it is, but it gives me pause for thought.
You remind me of the early 2000 Business Link companies. You rang up looking for advice, thinking it's a government initiative, but spend 70% of the time getting a hard sell for their web development sideline.
I met a BL person once with my then business partner to discuss bis-development ideas/options, and, yep, it was a total hard sell of the services; they couldn't "get" that our total capital was about £1,000 of our own money and there was simply no way I was going to pay £250 for X useless service ;P
