In the news

And didn't it turn out to be totally fabricated?

Not sure whether the trial is still ongoing (of Carl Beech / 'Nick')

Epstein got off ridiculously lightly given the amount of evidence against him. The large no of Victims werent able to testify against him instead branded prostitutes.

Wesrminster paedo ring press coverage has been largely focused on that one now discredited accuser.

However theres loads of sketchy stuff around Westminster.

Including and not limited to:

Dossier that went missing
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westminster_paedophile_dossier

Paedophile Information Exchange and links / parlaimentary funding
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paedophile_Information_Exchange

Various individual mps with sketchy past
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-merseyside-47528653

Potential special branch / intelligence service cover ups
http://nyenquirer.uk/mi5-special-branch-prominent-paedophiles-cover-peter-jaconelli/

More info here
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KkNvQ66GE-0

there are some crazy names linked with epstine, it's just so grubby and vile, also heard the other day Estine offered up his NY mansion basically a whole NYC block up to reduce the potential sentence he may get, need to read up tho as it may be bollox.
ginna listen to BHB episode again tonight

This is pure speculation based on what ive read but im guessing there has been a heavy focus on 'nick' to discredit the investigation. The enquiry is on its 4th(?) Presiding judge and the victims have lost faith in it. But yeah could all be bullshit. Have a look at the above links and make up your own mind.

He doesnt own that (whole nyv block) mansion amd its not clear how he got it. One of the many un amswered questions about the guy.

Several children are still missing, presumed dead.

trial is still ongoing

This is my understanding.

The allegations are pretty serious, including murder. No doubt there is plenty of sketchy stuff from that era. But it's important not to mix it all together into one massive conspiracy involving torture and murder unless there's some evidence.

ah right ta for putting it right, om guessing it's been loaned to him. I hope he goes down and takes a shit load with him

“Digital Minister Margot James has apologised for the six-month delay on the so-called "porn block", which had been due to take effect on Monday.”

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-48990991

Why are the apologising. No-one cares or wants this “porn block”.

No-one cares or wants this “porn block”.

Really? There seems to be some fairly vocal support for some form of age verification from parents of children.

What's scary is that MindGeek (who own a load of the main sites) seem to be developing age verification.

heaven forfend people should be better at the parenting.

this is why i hate kids.

and love pron!

But it's at an ISP level so a whole house would have to be 'unblocked'. It's like a voluntary Great Firewall. Also if you unblock it means your name/address is on a list somewhere as being a porn viewer and a potential victim of extortion/fraud.

Even if you are, kids are sharing explicit sexual materials at schools now.

Besides... Tor or a Proxy, then onto the PirateBay which already has lots of stuff, kids are savvy enough to bypass this.

And that stuff works on phones as well so locking down your home internet won't work.

Better to also upgrade the UK sex-ed, but the "won't anybody think of the children" brigade usually objects to that also.

I just did a quick google and found this. So...

First of all, the regulations only apply if the website is distributing the material ‘on a commercial basis’: that is, if they earn money or other benefits, such as through advertising, even if the material itself is free for users. As well as this, the regulations won’t apply if adult material makes up less than a third of all content on the website.

So, as a random example, wouldn't a website like Twitter be exempt? Even Reddit, chock-full of porn as it is, will probably have <1/3 of content be 'adult' material, right? (Btw, not sure how they'll be measuring this, but hey)

On both sites, hardcore pornography is easily accessible, you don't even need an account. And that's just two HUGE websites, I'm sure there's a decent amount of porn on other nominally non-porn websites I don't know of.

Basically what I'm saying is: you don't even need a proxy or go onto piratebay, there's loads of stuff freely accessible out there and you can bet even non-tech-savvy horny teenagers will find it.

Easier in threadreader:

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1148259553621864449.html

Tx :)

I am not on Twatter or Reddit, but if it is already out there, I am really not sure what they try to reach with this law.

"symbol politics" perhaps as we call it in Dutchland, meant to look like you are doing something productive, but it is just made to look good, rather than address the actual issue.

Which is...I guess underage people watching sexual explicit material but clearly...

Yeah same word in German, 'Symbolpolitik' - from my personal observations, that's the case with a majority of all of the 'big' pieces of legislation that deal with kids. "Think of the children" in general is a great way of trying to either take away attention from something else, or justify legislation that is otherwise unpopular.

It is fine to think of the children, but I just don't see this reach its aim of protecting them. Even the FPA (a sex ed charity) notes there are problems with excessive porn consumption/distortion of expectations of real relationships as it is a fantasy world but often the first contact people have with well, sex, so clearly there is scope to address this.

This just doesn't seem to be the way.

'Gesture politics' in English.

Why are they apologising?

The minister is obviously apologising for the delay in implementing the law voted on by Parliament. That's entirely appropriate (the apology). As has been said, there are major questions about whether it would be effective or counter-productive, etc.

Wired have had a few good articles on the porn block, this is the latest. A simple vpn will circumvent it, Twitter won’t be affected.

https://www.wired.co.uk/article/porn-block-uk-wired-explains

This article on the Epstein case in the Miami Herald from November is very good.
Also said to be the piece that got the ball rolling again. Made me miserable when I read it.

Edit: Meant @Fyoosh. Sorry.

Wow. Very comprehensive article.

Thanks for the links @c.h.e. and @sacredhart

After I posted that comment this morning I actually ended up listening to this podcast episode, which has an interview with Julie Brown of The Miami Herald by Alec Baldwin.

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/on-the-media/id73330715?i=1000444164220