The story of the Iceland government considering a porn ban is making headlines in the UK Monday. The headline in the Guardian read, "Iceland seeks internet pornography ban
"Country to examine ways to prevent citizens accessing violent or degrading content but critics are uneasy about censorship."
The story generated more than 200 comments from readers, most were critical of the ban.
The Iceland government is drafting a law aimed at banning Internet porn.
It is designed to protect children. Many are asking how a country as thoroughly wired as Iceland can feasibly ban anything on the Internet?
Interior Minister Ogmundur Jonasson is proposing the ban. Opponents are furious, saying it would undermine Iceland’s reputation as a Scandinavian “bastion of free speech.”
.But those who support the proposal say it will protect children.
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"When a 12-year-old types 'porn' into Google, he or she is not going to find photos of naked women out on a country field, but very hardcore and brutal violence," Halla Gunnarsdottir, political adviser to the interior minister told CBS.. "There are laws in our society. Why should they not apply to the Internet?"
Most Guardian readers are blasting the Iceland porn ban proposal.
One reader commented, "Internet porn is simply an excuse for censorship. And the UK "authorities" are too quick to jump on the bandwagon. If anti-porn activists and the "authorities" in the UK are really concerned about degrading material and abuse why don't they do something about the disgraceful amount of brothels (including "gentlemen's clubs") in our cities and the "amateur porn" industry which is exploiting and degrading many women in the UK?"
Another reader had this take on the Iceland porn ban proposal, "My objection is simply to your blanket assumption that it is always degrading. This is a value judgement that takes away the agency of those involved in the industry. Many porn actors and actresses have no problem with what they do and I don't think it is for you to dismiss their views or to tell them they are somehow deluded,"
Pornography is technically already banned in Iceland and has been for decades but the law has never been enforced and pornography has never been defined.
Iceland’s leftist government says the ban would rein in porn that has “violent or degrading content” but would not censor sex or ban all porn magazines or Web sites.
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