Tag Archives: porn panic

Miss Matthews, English Dominatrix, Reviews Porn Panic

Miss Matthews (pictured here) has just published an entertaining (and flattering) review of my book, Porn Panic, to her blog, Stripy Scarf. Porn Panic can be ordered at Amazon and your favourite book shop, and is available in paperback and Kindle versions. Signed paperback copies are also available to people who support me via Patreon. Donations help me devote more time to campaigning against censorship and attacks on liberal values, and in particular will help me create more regular content for my Sex & Censorship YouTube Channel.

The review begins…

“From the lurid title and cartoon cover you might not expect to find within these pages a detailed, history and compelling analysis of liberalism, pornography, censorship and feminism, from pre-historic times via the enlightenment; the post-1945 socialist triumphs of universal education and healthcare and the welfare state, to the present day: yet that’s what Porn Panic delivers, in accessible, humorous chunks, liberally spiced with illuminating examples and personal anecdotes. Jerry Barnett’s style is funny, intelligent, coherent and lucid,  while the arguments he presents are fascinating and frequently unanswerable.”

Click here to read the whole review at Stripy Scarf…

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BREAKING: The End of the UK ‘Porn Block’? Explaining the background to today’s government decision

Today, it was announced that the UK government’s plans to introduce age verification for online porn, and to block any content that did not comply, were being shelved.

For me, it all began about 12 years ago. I was running Strictly Broadband, a British streaming porn movie rental site, which was one of the UK’s best known porn outlets. I began to hear that the British Board of Films Classification (the BBFC – formerly, and more accurately, known as the British Board of Film Censors) were investigating the idea of classifying online streaming movies, in the same way they already did for cinema and DVD releases. Given that porn was heavily restricted on DVD (and completely banned in cinemas), this was worrying for the British industry, which would have to heavily cut content to conform to British standards.

We were already beginning to suffer from the effects of free content from the newly-launched ‘tube’ sites such as Youporn.com, so this was unwelcome news for an industry that was already struggling.

I went to the meet the BBFC’s new Head of Online, Pete Johnson, to discuss his plans. He was introducing a scheme called BBFC Online, under which movies should display the appropriate BBFC certificate (which was either 18 for soft titles or R18 for hard ones, although many titles that were legal in the EU or USA would not be allowed at all). Johnson explained that the scheme was voluntary, but would likely be adopted soon by UK regulators. My team implemented BBFC Online on our site, but we were just about the only site to do so, and the scheme failed.

Johnson, however, jumped ship to run a new regulator, ATVOD, which would report to Ofcom, the UK’s giant media regulator and censor of TV and radio. Again, I met with him, and registered my site with ATVOD (and paid the hefty registration fee). ATVOD was supposed to be a general-purpose regulator of all video-on-demand (VoD) services, but Johnson appeared to have a particular obsession with regulating pornography.

ATVOD’s Rule 11 was especially suspect. It required adult sites to verify the ages of all visitors before allowing them to view any content. This age verification was far more than just a button saying “I’m Over 18”. Sites were required to check age using a credit card (debit cards were not considered secure enough) or some other method, such as a passport check. To implement this would have simply meant that we went bust. I began lobbying on behalf of the industry, pointing out that there was no point simply chasing us all out of business or offshore; but the regulator seemed to relish the chance of destroying the UK’s small adult industry.

Johnson began to pick on a series of small sites – mostly those whose owners had made contact with him to enquire about the regulations. Then ATVOD served notice on Playboy TV and my own business. Playboy (who were by now owned by the biggest porn company) simply closed their UK operation and migrated to Canada. Given only two weeks to comply, I had little option but to sell my site and close my company.

However, ATVOD was short-lived. Johnson’s porn obsession was annoying the big broadcasters – BBC, Channel 4, Sky, and so on – who were largely funding the regulator. Eventually, Ofcom closed ATVOD down, and took the regulation in-house. This was not the end of attempts to censor pornography, but the start of an escalation.

In 2016, Ofcom began a consultation on adult content, to which I submitted a response. This appeared to be rigged, with the outcome predetermined to recommend censorship. Sure enough, Ofcom rapidly announced that children were indeed threatened by the existence of online porn, and that legislation was required to protect them (aka give Ofcom powers to censor the internet).

The legislation (the Digital Economy Act) was rolled out in April 2017. This created the role of Age Verification Regulator, and granted this new regulator powers to fine and disrupt services that did not verify the ages of visitors. It was later announced that the AV regulator would be the BBFC (which was no doubt grateful, as its business from DVD censorship was quickly dying).

More significant, it was announced that ISPs would be required to block sites on a blacklist provided by the BBFC. This would be the most powerful internet censor in British history – and possibly in any democratic country.

However, the immense cost of the block, and various civil liberties issues, appear to have finally changed the government’s mind, and they pulled the plug. This is bad news indeed for the BBFC and the age verification industry, but good news for civil liberties. However, the government ominously suggests it will continue to act against “Online Harm”. It may be that, given the rise of social media in the past few years, the blocking system simply makes little sense any more. Far easier to threaten Facebook and Twitter to control what content can be shared on their platforms.

Watch this space for the next thrilling installment…

PANIC!

BBC 5 Live debate – “Is Pornography a Public Health Issue?”

Yesterday, BBC Radio 5 Live dedicated an hour to discussing the alleged threat posed to public health by pornography. The programme made little attempt to ask balanced questions, or examine any evidence beyond the anecdotal. Instead, it was premised on the assumption that porn poses a threat to society, and that “something must be done”.

I was invited on to the programme to discuss the issue. Before I joined the discussion, I listened with incredulity as a BBC-approved, evidence-free anti-sex moral panic was broadcast to the nation. I was eventually added to the discussion, and did my best to counter the misinformation, though no real time was allowed for discussion of solid evidence.

You can listen to the debate on iPlayer. The discussion starts at 8:00, and I join around 43:30. To support my work against censorship, please consider a small contribution to my Patreon campaign.

London Event: Jerry Barnett Speaking at Jordan Peterson Discussion Group

Event alert: Tuesday 27th February, London.

I’ll be speaking about the Porn Panic (the new war on sexual freedom and free expression) to the “Jordan Peterson Gentlemen’s Philosophy Meetup”, tomorrow evening. The event appears to be popular, so please RSVP if you intend to come.

The event isn’t directly related to Jordan Peterson, but was set up by some of his admirers. For those who don’t know, he’s a professor of Psychology and author who has recently gained notoriety for his defence of free speech and evidence-based discussion. His recent, bewildering, interview with Cathy Newman for Channel 4 News is worth watching: Newman appeared to repeatedly attempt to twist Peterson’s words and cast him (inaccurately) as an opponent of gender equality. The discussion – on why men and women make different choices and have differing outcomes – illustrates the cutting edge of science versus dogma – the new Darwinism vs Creationism. The fact that science is now regarded with suspicion by the political and media mainstream has deeply worrying implications, and is one of the issues I touch on in my book.

I’ve also created a Patreon campaign to help support my campaigning work. If you support my campaign against censorship and sexual repression, a small monthly contribution will help me create more content and speak at more events. I think we live in dangerous times – if you agree, please help me spread the word.