4 ms·

Letter to my MP about web censorship

5 points by Isofarro 13y ago

MarcScott 13y ago
We should all do this. A more generic template: Dear MY MP, As a digitally literate citizen of the 21st century, I'm sure I don’t need to explain why David Cameron and Claire Perry’s attempts to censor the Web are so dangerous. I’d like to know your thoughts on why this isn’t being debated in parliament; why it seems to go against their own policy after a consultation on the issue, and whether you (as my representative) agree with Mr Cameron’s ideas? I’m deeply concerned at the scope-creep of these policies. We all oppose obscene images of children and rape. But those are illegal, and filtered, already. Is it true that we will have to opt-in to “extremist” material, and material on “smoking”? Who decides what is “extremist”? I urge you to oppose this censorship by the back door, and I hope you’ll raise it in parliament, which is the proper place to debate such matters. Yours sincerely, MY NAME
- evilstreak 13y ago
  Copy and paste template letters tend to be treated as less important than letters written in the constituent's own words[1]. If you genuinely care about this issue, make the time to write about the concerns you have yourself. [1] http://www.writetothem.com/about-qa#formletters http://www.writetothem.com/about-qa#formletters
  - MarcScott 13y ago
    Yep. Read this after posting. Copypasta will probably be filtered. Opps
evilstreak 13y ago
Credit to John Hemming (Bruce's MP) for actually engaging in the comments. I don't expect my elected representatives to always agree with me, and I don't even expect them to always be well informed. Discussing their position and being open to changing it is about the best I can hope for, and John Hemming seems to be doing that here.
Isofarro 13y ago
This is quite interesting: https://twitter.com/johnhemmingmp/status/361612814902771712 https://twitter.com/johnhemmingmp/status/361612814902771712 John Hemming MP: "I have written a TCP/IP stack and the second implementation globally of SSL." That is impressive technical credentials for a Member of Parliament.

5 points by Isofarro 13y ago

We should all do this. A more generic template: Dear MY MP, As a digitally literate citizen of the 21st century, I'm sure I don’t need to explain why David Cameron and Claire Perry’s attempts to censor the Web are so dangerous. I’d like to know your thoughts on why this isn’t being debated in parliament; why it seems to go against their own policy after a consultation on the issue, and whether you (as my representative) agree with Mr Cameron’s ideas? I’m deeply concerned at the scope-creep of these policies. We all oppose obscene images of children and rape. But those are illegal, and filtered, already. Is it true that we will have to opt-in to “extremist” material, and material on “smoking”? Who decides what is “extremist”? I urge you to oppose this censorship by the back door, and I hope you’ll raise it in parliament, which is the proper place to debate such matters. Yours sincerely, MY NAME

evilstreak 13y ago
Copy and paste template letters tend to be treated as less important than letters written in the constituent's own words[1]. If you genuinely care about this issue, make the time to write about the concerns you have yourself. [1] http://www.writetothem.com/about-qa#formletters http://www.writetothem.com/about-qa#formletters
- MarcScott 13y ago
  Yep. Read this after posting. Copypasta will probably be filtered. Opps

evilstreak 13y ago

Credit to John Hemming (Bruce's MP) for actually engaging in the comments. I don't expect my elected representatives to always agree with me, and I don't even expect them to always be well informed. Discussing their position and being open to changing it is about the best I can hope for, and John Hemming seems to be doing that here.

Isofarro 13y ago

This is quite interesting: https://twitter.com/johnhemmingmp/status/361612814902771712 https://twitter.com/johnhemmingmp/status/361612814902771712 John Hemming MP: "I have written a TCP/IP stack and the second implementation globally of SSL." That is impressive technical credentials for a Member of Parliament.