Claire Perry On Internet Porn Regulation And - Separately - Army Wives

Posted: 11/05/2012 08:48 Updated: 11/05/2012 12:13

I spent much of Thursday morning repeatedly searching "Claire Perry Porn" on Google. Luckily all the results were safe for work but there are huge number of results. That's because the Tory MP for Devizes in Wiltshire has been campaigning for better safeguards on internet pornography almost since she was elected two years ago.

Perry wants Internet service providers (ISPs) to block adult content by default, only allowing it into homes when people specifically ask for it. "I’m not anti-porn in any way," she tells me - though one suspects she's not exactly a cheerleader for it either, having three kids aged between 9 and 15.

She's recently chaired an independent (ie not state-funded) parliamentary review into whether restrictions could and should been put in, and last week Number 10 agreed to formally look at their findings and hold their own review.

She's extremely proud at getting this far. "When we started this in November 2010, ISPs said there’s no need for this, it can’t be done, and it shouldn’t be done for ideological reasons. So to get from that to where we are now, which is basically Number 10 saying they’ll look at this formally, and the ISPs are now falling over themselves to show willing."

The issue is highly divisive. "The problem with this space is that it’s all, ‘hands off the internet, it’s my space,’ and then ‘oh, porn is bad'. But it's cross party, supported by atheists, feminists, people who are extremely right-wing, those with strong religious persuasions, and that’s really good."

That's not to say there are still a lot of problems with enacting the "opt-in" measures. I tell her how my phone network blocked the RBS Six Nations Website on my iPad earlier this year, wrongly (I think) branding it an adult site.

"Did you ring up and tell them?" I say no; it's not the nicest thing to do in the world - call up your ISP and ask them to turn off the adult filter - because the subtext is you're wanting to download porn.

"It is really creepy to have that conversation with them," she agrees. "There should be an interface where people can prove they’re 18 online."

But there's also another problem - a computer cannot semantically always know what is porn and what isn't. And what's the point of a filter, if you only have to get it turned off because it's blocking out non-porn sites?

"These are hard questions to ask. On the false positive thing, filters only work if you’ve got human intelligence around them," she says. "It is not zero-cost, but the filters already exist that puts these sites on the lists. I can’t see why the business case is damaged by this particular filtering of a segment of the market."

Perry's argument is that the ISP market is dominated by a few mega-corporations which make huge profits - they could easily absorb the costs if they worked together. And the public sector has also done a lot of the heaving lifting on this.

"In schools there are filtering systems which have multiple layers of protection, so as you go through the years, you have access to more and more things. At my daughter’s school the young kids can’t get onto Facebook but the over-13s can. You can make it very dynamic and we should be doing that in the home."

She says her recent parliamentary review was entirely facts-based and as such its conclusions are fairly irrefutable. "You can move very quickly from what you might define as a mainstream world into some quite nasty stuff that is not porn as we know it. Within two clicks you can get into areas you just wouldn’t want to be."

She believes there is growing evidence it's warping kids' minds: "There is evidence that it changes the way kids think about sexual relationships, it changes their sexual behaviour. Agony aunts say they get 13 year-olds coming to them being pressured to have anal sex. 13 year-old girls? My God, that’s terrible."

But that's still anecdotal. Where's the peer-reviewed studies and so on? "You can’t do a double-blind study and expose kids to porn, so it’s quite hard to prove, but how much evidence do we really need? We want these kids outside playing with a bat and a ball in an ideal world."

I wonder what she'll do next? I suspect she's a strong candidate to be elevated to the government when the reshuffle comes. Currently the ministerial aide to Philip Hammond, she's incredibly loyal and supportive of both him and his predecessor at the MOD, Liam Fox - whose demise she describes as "very sad". Will he make a comeback? "I don’t know, I’d like to think so. And he’s good, and he cared about the brief. All that innuendo, I just hate that."

Perry would be a good fit as a junior minister at the MOD. Her seat has most of Salisbury Plain in it, so there’s a lot of army there. "I’ve got 11,000 service personnel plus their dependents as constituents. So that’s a big, big chunk."

Plus it's getting quite embarrassing that Britain has never had a female defence minister of any kind, whereas countries like Israel and Pakistan have both had at least one. Perry says "there bloody well should be one, Number 10, if you’re listening."

"The covenant involves the family and there are so many sacrifices we ask service families to make, like it’s very hard to work if you’re a service spouse being moved around every two years. That’s part of the deal."

For someone who only joined the Tory party six years ago it's rapid progress. It's not inconceivable that Perry might find herself in government before Downing Street finishes its review of her call to curb internet porn. It's not clear whether David Cameron will actually do what Perry wants - she says that "web purists carry a big stick, and we need to challenge them with the facts."

You get the feeling that Perry would be happy if just some of her proposals find their way into law. She has an air of pragmatism. "I think there will be progress," she says. "I am not a zealot."

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I spent much of Thursday morning repeatedly searching "Claire Perry Porn" on Google. Luckily all the results were safe for work but there are huge number of results. That's because the Tory MP for ...
I spent much of Thursday morning repeatedly searching "Claire Perry Porn" on Google. Luckily all the results were safe for work but there are huge number of results. That's because the Tory MP for ...
 
 
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11:20 AM on 05/20/2012
Claire Perry is a cleverer, richer and has more influential friends than Mary Whitehouse but there the differences end.

Claire Perry and Reg Bailey refuse to define pornography. They refuse to distinguish between types of pornography. They refuse to explain how free speech will be protected. They refuse to require that filtering should be evidence based. They use legitimate concerns about some of the more extreme and exploitative pornography to justify censoring what they dislike.

Bailey Report not independent. It says it was written by a team from the Ministry for Education. At least it has the honesty to admit that there is no good evidence.

If really protecting children they would not ignore inconvenient evidence. It is not coincidence that the most prudish western countries eg USA, have ten times the teenage pregnancy rate of the least prudish, eg Denmark. That pattern repeats for all international comparisons and all body-attitude related indicators. More prudish, worse outcomes, often enormously so. It beggars belief that Claire Perry is so assiduously promoting the attitudes associated with the worst outcomes.

So here are some questions for Claire Perry:
1. Does she want the sexually transmitted infection rates of the USA or does she want those of Denmark, Germany, France or indeed any other country with less body-shame?
2. Same question repeated for all other body-attitude related indicators.
3. Is it sensible to promote the attitudes associated with good outcomes or the attitudes associated with appalling outcomes?
03:06 PM on 05/13/2012
The trouble with banning sites is that they always use the more extreme ones to get legislation through, then they have a foothold on controling the internet. Politicians are terrified of it and they can't stand not being in control of it.
02:16 PM on 05/13/2012
I heared Dave has taken her, riding a few times now but has become bored with her prudishness
and has passed her on to other Member's of the cabinet,the name's of the owner's of those
members are being with-held.!!
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
mirola
Read between the lines
12:06 PM on 05/13/2012
All primp and proper to the outside world, but watch yourself when the door shuts
11:43 PM on 05/12/2012
Whats it to do with her what joe public watch? as one of the tory despot failures she should be more concerned about her failed party and what her 'great' leader as being getting up to and comment on that !!.
04:07 PM on 05/12/2012
Only in the UK can we still be having a voice to Censor Porn, while elsewhere in the World they are more relaxed about this Issue.
UK Adult's should NOT have to keep justifying what they get up to behind closed door's, and as for Children gaining access to an Adult World via the Internet, well IT IS the Parent's Job to police what their Children are looking at whether they like this Job, or not.

Those people that keep saying - Oh BUT, the Parents cannot be around all the time to see what their Off - Springs are up to, well when in doubt Look - up your Child's Laptop / Computer until you are satisfied that what your Child is viewing, meet's with you approval, and you are around to police your Children use of the Internet.

So therefore all you Adult's, learn to say NO to your Children when you are not about or when your child is in fact at home alone, or unsupervised online and leave the rest of UK Adult Society to view as they each see fit, without Censorship.
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Fozwords
Abandon hope when you post on here
03:01 PM on 05/12/2012
Regardless of your view on this, there are already sufficient guidlines and options to stop this coming into any household, any adult/parent can block this type of internet feed, if they dont its ideleness or apathy. If we give in to the sanctions this MP and others want to bring in where will it stop, no more films showing people getting killed by bullets, no more cowboys no more films with smoking or drinking in them, its the nanny state taking over.
03:01 PM on 05/12/2012
Let's be honest here though. If they filter out all the porn sites it'll take half the fun out of those random searches you make when your bored.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Paul Wagland
Resistance is fertile
06:36 PM on 05/12/2012
Haha! Examples please?
02:57 PM on 05/12/2012
I would be interested to know what will constitute porn. A great many television programs have content in them now that must have the Myra Hindley loving anti porn supporter lord Lonford spinning in his grave. And as for Emerdale and Hollyoacks, WELL?, they have lesbians you know, and then there's lip service, LOAD OF PERVERTS....

I think Claire Perry seems to want to take us back to the fifties style family values. Oh hang on though. If you Google that it seems that's a fetish too, and its proponents are a load of kinky perverts to.

Were doomed, doomed I tell you.
This comment has been removed.
02:01 PM on 05/12/2012
the most pornographic behaviour in britain today, is the conduct of politicians......
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Fozwords
Abandon hope when you post on here
03:02 PM on 05/12/2012
Well said Ken.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
paulie boy
Justice for all..not the few
01:35 PM on 05/12/2012
NANNY STATE.. People should be allowed to watch what they want..provided the participants are voluntary and above the legal age.. Who are the Government to censor what we watch, we pay enough for the privilage.. I do not watch porn myself, I am happily married, but I have no objection to others watching it or taking part in it..
Potential rapists and sex offenders need an avenue to access this material, otherwise they will take it some other way.. There is NO evidence to suggest that pornographic material influences the way people react to it. If you are that way inclined you then will potentially be more likely to become a sex offender..We should follow the example of Amsterdam, where sex offending is minimal, and rare.
02:00 PM on 05/12/2012
thank god for a balanced, well thought out view, i agree in the netherlands sex offences are but a fraction of those that we have.....why do we never learn?
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Fozwords
Abandon hope when you post on here
03:04 PM on 05/12/2012
Yep cant help but agree
01:05 PM on 05/12/2012
Maybe she can approach Tulisa, to help her campaign!
01:03 PM on 05/12/2012
She should make some videos herself, wouldn't mind seeing her stretch marks!
12:07 PM on 05/12/2012
"I'm not anti porn" really? So dispite trying to censor the whole internet from anything you consider pornographic you consider yourself "not anti porn". I object to being told what I can and cant do by any politician and this is no exception, its ridiculous and I don't even watch much porn.

As for the whole kids argument that it "There is evidence that it changes the way kids think about sexual relationships" Thats not just porn, thats shows like skins (I hate skins btw), the inbetweeners (Which I love but still) all to this add to the massive teenage aspirational bubble of how to fit in with all the other school kids. Porn adds to that bubble very little. ITs all about one kid saying hes done something and then everybody else has to do the same thing to fit in and be cooler. I hate my age group.

It all boils down to this, if a kids parents don't want their kid watching porn, the parents should restrict their internet use, not write in to the government to restrict the whole internet from showing it to anybody. Your responsible for your kids, not everybody else.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Fozwords
Abandon hope when you post on here
03:07 PM on 05/12/2012
I dont mind any MP telling me what to do or what to watch, when they start to do what we elect them for, I dont need a moral guardian, I need someone to work this country back into the black, sort out the criminals, resolve the immigartion problems and deal with social security cheats, why has this woman so much time to spend on periferals, is she shirking her other duties, if so she is not worthy of her remuneration.
03:57 PM on 05/12/2012
Well said! And a good start on the 'to do' list ;)
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George McAulay
Delighted to meet you
03:17 PM on 05/12/2012
F & F from Australia

That's a well written and mature set of comments