Jerry Barnett Goes On Air to Argue Against U.K. Regulation

LONDON — Monday morning was a busy one for Jerry Barnett, the former online adult operator who now is pushing an anti-censorship campaign in the U.K. called "Sex & Censorship."

Barnett participated in 13 TV and radio interviews yesterday countering new initiatives by the British government to regulate adult content in the U.K.

Barnett is a long-time adult industry advocate who was forced to give up two of his blue-chip sites, Anywhere.XXX and StrictlyBroadband.com, after U.K. regulators served papers last year  that gave him a strict schedule to comply with new age-verification rules.

Monday's interviews with Barnett on a number of BBC radio and TV channels, as well as others, came the same day Prime Minister David Cameron discussed two major issues resulting from an unregulated Internet: the exploitation and abuse of children through child pornography and their premature exposure to porn.   

"Cameron announced three things: one was important and two were just smokescreens," Barnett told XBIZ on Tuesday.

Barnett said Cameron's "meaningless" announcements involved asking Google to block child porn search terms and making possession of rape porn illegal.

As for blocking child porn search terms, Barnett said that it is "BS because Google of course already has procedures to deal with this stuff, and [searches] don't return known child abuse imagery in its searches."

"The possession of rape porn extends a 2008 law that criminalizes the possession of extreme porn," he said.  "It's a terrible law as it puts the onus on the consumer to know what content is or is not illegal."

The real substance in Cameron's speech "was forcing ISPs to make all their customers choose whether to filter out adult material," Barnett said.

"This is done in the name of child protection," he said. "The filter is a terrible policy because: (1) it puts a block on the whole home rather than individual devices, assuming that parents should never watch porn; (2) it will be easy to work around, so tech-savvie teens will watch porn anyway; (3) it gives parents a false sense of security; (4) many people won't switch off the filter out of embarrassment; (5) many adults who want to watch porn won't be able to, because somebody else operates the ISP agreement (think husbands/wives, house sharers, grown up kids living with parents); and (6) filters always encompass more than just porn."

As for the last tenet, Barnett said that there are many examples in other scenarios of porn filters growing to cover sex education — "LGBT sites, erotic art, sex discussion groups and even political sites that deal with sexual issues."

Barnett, who is writing a book called "Porn Panic!", has called for support of his anti-censorship movement initiative and has created a Facebook page and is active on Twitter. A mailing list signup is available here.

Related:  

Copyright © 2025 Adnet Media. All Rights Reserved. XBIZ is a trademark of Adnet Media.
Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission is prohibited.

More News

Stalwart Defender: Jeffrey Douglas on 30 Years Fighting for Free Expression

“If you had told me in 1995 that I would be on the FSC board for 30 years, I would have laughed out loud,” says Jeffrey Douglas.

FSC Publishes Analysis of Federal Trade Commission Event Promoting AV

Free Speech Coalition (FSC) has published an analysis of a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) event held this week that promoted age verification among other forms of speech regulation.

GirlsDoPorn Owner Michael Pratt Pleads Guilty to Sex Trafficking

Michael Pratt, former owner of the rogue website GirlsDoPorn, pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California on Thursday to sex trafficking and conspiracy to commit sex trafficking charges, according to a report by City News Service.

Master Nico Relaunches Site Through YourPaysitePartner

Master Nico has relaunched his official website through YourPaysitePartner (YPP).

Federal Judge Grants Partial Halt of Florida AV Law

The United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida, Tallahassee Division, has granted a preliminary injunction against HB 3, the state's age verification law, as a lawsuit filed by two online trade associations challenging the law makes its way through the courts.

Aylo Releases Statement on Suspending Access to Pornhub in France

Technology and media company Aylo, which operates adult sites including Pornhub, YouPorn, and Redtube, has released a public statement regarding its decision to block access to its sites in France.

Pornhub Blocks Access in France in Response to SREN Law

Pornhub parent company Aylo has opted to block access to its sites in France rather than comply with age verification requirements under the country’s Security and Regulation of the Digital Space (SREN) law.

ASACP Highlights Study on Parental Controls

The Association of Sites Advocating Child Protection (ASACP) is highlighting the results of a study on the underutilization of parental controls.

Sydney Screams Launches New Site Through Grooby's Blue.xxx

Sydney Screams has launched her new membership site, SydneyScreams.xxx, through Grooby's website management company Blue.xxx.

Mistress Mystii Is LoyalFans' 'Featured Creator' for June

LoyalFans has named Mistress Mystii as its Featured Creator for June.

Show More