Get signing
Posted: Tue Dec 12, 2006 8:13 am
"We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to use evidenced based regulation, harm and human rights in all State licensing and censorship of adult broadcasts.
If the human right to free expression is to have any value at all, then it must be the responsibility of those who wish to restrict free expression to prove that restrictions are necessary, not the responsibility of those who wish to conduct free expression to prove that restrictions are unnecessary.
Those who campaign against pornography do not do so on the basis of the evidence, but on the basis of belief. We hear a lot about harm to society, harm to morals, harm to women and similar. But never about harm to individual liberty or harm caused by sexual repression.
If Ofcom have access to clear and reliable evidence that televised pornography would cause disproportionate harm, then this evidence should be presented to the public in the name of transparent regulation. If there is no such evidence then censorship of consensual adult pornography is a violation of the right to free expression and should cease immediately."
If the human right to free expression is to have any value at all, then it must be the responsibility of those who wish to restrict free expression to prove that restrictions are necessary, not the responsibility of those who wish to conduct free expression to prove that restrictions are unnecessary.
Those who campaign against pornography do not do so on the basis of the evidence, but on the basis of belief. We hear a lot about harm to society, harm to morals, harm to women and similar. But never about harm to individual liberty or harm caused by sexual repression.
If Ofcom have access to clear and reliable evidence that televised pornography would cause disproportionate harm, then this evidence should be presented to the public in the name of transparent regulation. If there is no such evidence then censorship of consensual adult pornography is a violation of the right to free expression and should cease immediately."