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canopic jug writes:

In a surprise to no one, researchers find yet again that Internet content filters don’t prevent access to porn. Specifically a paper entitled Internet Filtering and Adolescent Exposure to Online Sexual Material from a pair of researchers at the Oxford Internet Institute in the United Kingdom finds that teens are not slowed down during their search for porn in any meaningful way by content filters. The study looked at around 20,000 subjects around the EU and UK, ages 11 through 16, and found no statistically or practically significant protective effects from filters.

This research follows the controversial news that the UK government was exploring a country-wide porn filter, a product that will most likely fail. The UK would join countries around the world who filter the public Internet for religious or political reasons.

The bottom line? Filters are expensive and they don’t work.

Original Submission