Iceland campaigns to restrict internet porn [View all]

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"I could access pornography in about three seconds, four at the most," explained Geir Johann Geirsson, 19, his laptop open on the classroom desk at Borgarn high school in a Reykjavik suburb. "If you can access the internet you can access porn, no matter how old you are."

But, in this small north Atlantic nation, a battle against the multibillion-pound industry is under way and campaigners are calling on the new government to introduce ways to block online pornography.

Defenders of the internet – who claimed that proposals from the former government to limit porn promoted censorship and attacked freedom of speech – were given a boost at the end of April when the left-leaning administration was ousted by a centre-right coalition. However, gender equality activists argue that, despite the setback, a debate has been started that will not go away.

Ögmundur Jónasson, the former interior minister, who proposed the change to the law, remains adamant the issue must be tackled. "There are people who want to silence this discussion, but it is a discussion that will not be silenced," he said. "People want to confuse this with an argument about freedom of expression, but I would say it is those who are trying to silence the debate who are not respecting freedom of expression."

If a porn ban happens anywhere in Europe it is likely to be in Iceland, which came top of the World Economic Forum's 2012 Global Gender Gap report and has already implemented significant legislation to regulate the sex industry.

full: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/may/26/iceland-crackdown-internet-porn

The good side of the Icelandic government: it actually sent bankers to jail after the financial crisis. However, this ban shows that the nation doesn't value free speech as much as the US does. Debate the morality of porn all you want, but regardless your position it's not the government's responsibility to regulate consenting adults' sexual choices.