Friday, April 04, 2008
Here we go again - another Government Internet blunder
Let's get this straight - sexual offences are abhorrent; I am in no way a defender of people who have committed sex crimes. As a psychologist, though, I'm aware that many of them are victims themselves, having been abused as children. But the Government rightly wants to clamp down on sexual offences.
But their latest "initiative" is just laughable; it clearly demonstrates, as if we needed any more evidence, that they do not understand the Internet at all. What they want is for sexual offenders to tell the authorities what their email address is. Then the authorities will contact places like Facebook and they will ban these email addresses. The idea is that it will prevent sexual offenders from preying on people online.
Apart from the fact that around 60% of all sexual offences are committed within families, the notion that you will reduce sexual crime by banning email addresses is plain nonsense. A criminal will happily give the authorities their email address and within seconds have a new one. The authorities will then ban the "official" email address while the offender carries on using another one.
"Aha", says the Government, "we've thought of that". Well tosh; they haven't. They claim that anyone who gives a false email address will face five years in jail. But how will they find out that an offender is using a second email address? They won't, until that person is prosecuted for any subsequent crime.
Once again, the Government is making itself a complete laughing stock when it comes to Internet policy. The problem we have is that as society is increasingly run online, we desperately need a Government that understands the world of the Internet. But there again, they've never understood the "real world" either.
Labels: internet psychology, politics, social networking
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Readers' Comments:
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April 04, 2008 12:39 PM 
said…
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April 04, 2008 12:54 PM 
Graham Jones said…
Hey Rob, that's a great idea - thanks...!
By the way, I understand from my moles in the BBC, the Government is currently using carrier pigeon to send out press releases; they've moved to the newer technology because it's faster than sending a man on horseback.
At
April 04, 2008 1:13 PM Lori said…
Good lord, that's just ridiculous. It's akin to expecting a burglar to hand over his lock pick. Sheesh!
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April 04, 2008 1:55 PM 
A. said…
I couldn't believe it this morning when I heard it on the news. If the anyone asked me for my email address I could give them any one of half a dozen. Who on earth is advising them? It's bad enough that one person in the government is dim enough to think this up, but how many people will have had sight of it before it was announced? Idiots!
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April 05, 2008 3:49 PM Jeremy Jacobs said…
Hardly worth a comment Graham but keep up the good work. One day we'll have less government.
Perhaps you and I should write a book called "Web for Dummies".
I'll mention you here in a few hours
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April 05, 2008 6:54 PM Mark Lee said…
I wondered if it was just me when I heard the story on the news and saw it in the paper today.
As you say Graham - an absolute laughing stock and so evidently unfamiliar with the internet. But everyone involved in Government and the press department? This has all the hallmarks of an idea dreamt up by one senior person who imposes their will on everyone else and brooks no dissension. If anyone wanted to show people how NOT to govern, this is as good an example as we'll get. (I've seen plenty of others in the tax world but this one is obvious to almost everyone!)
Graham
Do you reckon they sent this story to the BBC by telegram? Or maybe they went all high-tech and sent it by fax.
This is even more laughable than the thing you posted the other week about them pursuing illegal music downloaders.
How about "Government internet blunders" for your next book title? They keep gifting you with plenty of great free material after all, and at least you could make some money out of them instead of vice versa!