China gets tough on Internet Porn, which is, I think, a good thing. However: imagine what else the filters and censorship systems built to control porn can be used for? China is not exactly known for not using tools for information control.
4 comments:
Anonymous
said...
There are a lot of questions attached to this subject.
"Porn" is not easily defined, and can be subject to local variations; within geographical, religious or personal borders. The same can be said about "communism" or "market liberalism". Different definitions within different borders. The Internet crosses these borders in order to work as a world wide web, and in my opinion, this marks the essence of the Internet. Therefore, the discussion cannot be whether or not "to ban internet porn". That would be the same as to try to ban "thoughts from the 17th century philosophers". You can be for or against it. But the discussion about banning things from the Internet origins in a poor understanding of the medium.
If you're against porn, don't watch it. Argue, and convince other people not to watch it. Install filters that prevents your kids from watching porn on the net, along with raising them according to your beliefs: Don't lie, don't steal, etc. But as you mention: Tools for information control should be applied with care. I would say that these tools shouldn't be used at all. This is a discussion about moral, not media. There's no resident evil in the Internet, nor in books.
I think. -arneolav@mac.com www.arneolav.sprayblogg.no
(I'm the same as above, only logged in) Forgot to brag about your blog. As a master's degree student at HiS, Senter for leseforskning/Nordisk institutt, studying digital reading, I find your site useful and interesting. Thanks!
Yes, sure, of course, right, it's all relative and should be understood in context. But online porn is more annoying than spam. Porn sites hijack much used search words in order to lead searches into their sites. I have found THIS blog listed as a resource in strictly pornographic sites, and I don't even discuss gender, much less sex! I find that non-consensual, as it does not give me the option to avoid online porn if I so wish.
This is the journal of Torill Elvira Mortensen. I am an associate professor at Nord University in Bodø and the IT University of Copenhagen. The topics of my writings here are among other things media studies, reader-response theory, role-play games, Internet Culture, travel, academic weirdness and online communication - put together at random.
Google scholar page.
If you're one of my students you probably came to this blog looking for Notater, Torill. That's where you find links and notes related to lectures in Norwegian - and some in English.
Introduction to Special Issue: Media-ludic approaches: Critical reflections on games and research practice. Torill Elvira Mortensen, Emma Witkowski and Claus Toft-Nielsen, in MedieKultur, vol. 34, no. 64.
WoW is the new MUD, Social Gaming from Text to Video, Torill Elvira Mortensen (2006), in Douglas Thomas (ed): Games and Culture, a Journal of Interactive Media, Volume 1, Number 4, Sage Publications October 2006.
Flow, Seduction and Mutual Pleasure, Torill Mortensen (2004), in Sicart, Miguel and Jonas Heide Smith (ed): Other Players conference proceedings, Center for Computer Game Research, IT University of Copenhagen, Denmark, 6-8 December 2004.
"The Wrong Millennium", Torill Elvira Mortensen (2004), book review in Anja Rau (ed): Tekka, volume 2, number 2, Eastgate, at: http://www.tekka.net/.
Personal Publication and Public Attention, Torill Elvira Mortensen (2004): "Personal Publication and Public attention", in Gurak, Laura, Smiljana Antonijevic, Laurie Johnson, Clancy Ratliff and Jessica Reyman (ed): Into the Blogosphere; Rhetoric, Community and Culture of Weblogs, at http://blog.lib.umn.edu/blogosphere/, University of Minnesota.
Pleasures of the Player (pdf), Torill Elvira Mortensen (2003): Pleasures of the Player; Flow and control in online games, Doctoral Dissertation Volda College and University of Bergen.
Tracking the digital juggler, Torill Mortensen (2003): "Tracking the Digital Juggler" in Anja Rau and Mark Bernstein (ed):TEKKA vol. 1 nr. 3, Eastgate (Requires subscription).
Playing with Players Torill Mortensen (2002): "Playing with Players: Potential methodologies for MUDs," in Game Studies, issue 2, Espen Aarseth (ed), at http://gamestudies.org.
Blogging Thoughts (pdf) Torill Mortensen and Jill Walker: "Blogging thoughts: personal publication as an online research tool," in: Researching ICTs in Context, ed. Andrew Morrison, InterMedia Report, 3/2002, Oslo 2002.
Torill Mortensen (2001)://Estetikk til å leke med, eller: å jage drager, i Localmotives 14: /nettkunst, red: Jill Walker, Kevin Foust (min siste versjon av artikkelen).
The Gamers' Space is a small project I am doing in the spring 2009. It includes an electronic survey, pictures of game machines of different kinds, and interviews done at The Gathering, a large LAN party in Hamar, Norway. For participation, more information, links and addresses, check The Gamers' Space.
4 comments:
There are a lot of questions attached to this subject.
"Porn" is not easily defined, and can be subject to local variations; within geographical, religious or personal borders. The same can be said about "communism" or "market liberalism". Different definitions within different borders. The Internet crosses these borders in order to work as a world wide web, and in my opinion, this marks the essence of the Internet. Therefore, the discussion cannot be whether or not "to ban internet porn". That would be the same as to try to ban "thoughts from the 17th century philosophers". You can be for or against it. But the discussion about banning things from the Internet origins in a poor understanding of the medium.
If you're against porn, don't watch it. Argue, and convince other people not to watch it. Install filters that prevents your kids from watching porn on the net, along with raising them according to your beliefs: Don't lie, don't steal, etc. But as you mention: Tools for information control should be applied with care. I would say that these tools shouldn't be used at all. This is a discussion about moral, not media. There's no resident evil in the Internet, nor in books.
I think.
-arneolav@mac.com
www.arneolav.sprayblogg.no
(I'm the same as above, only logged in)
Forgot to brag about your blog. As a master's degree student at HiS, Senter for leseforskning/Nordisk institutt, studying digital reading, I find your site useful and interesting. Thanks!
arneolav@mac.com
www.arneolav.sprayblogg.no
Yes, sure, of course, right, it's all relative and should be understood in context. But online porn is more annoying than spam. Porn sites hijack much used search words in order to lead searches into their sites. I have found THIS blog listed as a resource in strictly pornographic sites, and I don't even discuss gender, much less sex! I find that non-consensual, as it does not give me the option to avoid online porn if I so wish.
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