Manga Site Blocks Adult Content, But Only For US and UK Users (404media.co)
- Reference: 0173632326
- News link: https://entertainment.slashdot.org/story/24/04/24/2343217/manga-site-blocks-adult-content-but-only-for-us-and-uk-users
- Source link: https://www.404media.co/pixiv-manga-site-blocks-adult-content-but-only-for-us-and-uk-users/
> A Japan-based online art platform is [1]banning kink content for users based in the US and UK , as laws in these countries continue to tighten around sites that allow erotic content. Pixiv is an image gallery site where artists primarily share illustrations, manga, and novels. The site [2]announced on April 22 that starting April 25, users whose account region is set to the US or UK will be subject to Pixiv's new terms of use, " [3]Restrictions for Healthy Expression in Specific Countries and Regions ."
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> The restrictions include several kinds of content that are illegal in the US, including sexualized depictions of minors and bestiality, as well as non-consensual depictions and deepfakes. But it also includes "content that appeals to the prurient interest, is patently offensive in light of community standards where you are located or where such content may be accessed or distributed, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value, or otherwise violates any applicable obscenity laws, rules or regulations." This is an invocation of [4]the Miller test , which determines non-constitutionally protected obscenity.
"I'd never say this a few years ago, but it's my personal fear that the next step is most major internet hosting services implementing these policies on an infrastructure level," said an artist who goes by [5]kradeelav . "My colleagues are certainly planning for it by specifically looking for kink-friendly hosts, to actually making homebrew servers themselves in worst-case scenarios."
[1] https://www.404media.co/pixiv-manga-site-blocks-adult-content-but-only-for-us-and-uk-users/
[2] https://www.pixiv.net/info.php?id=10835&ref=404media.co
[3] https://pixiv1.app.box.com/s/6uq41xs25m092e6co1vor3r98kr4embv?ref=404media.co
[4] https://www.justice.gov/criminal/criminal-ceos/citizens-guide-us-federal-law-obscenity?ref=404media.co
[5] https://www.kradeelav.com/?ref=404media.co
What? No Pedophile Fuel? (Score:2)
Aww. Shucks.
Ya, but (Score:2)
> Manga Site Blocks Adult Content But Only For US and UK Users
That'll only suck for people who like their porn back to front. :-)
VPN (Score:1)
Get a VPN. We've become a nation so hostile to free speech that we have to use VPNs to watch content that other, freer nations can get openly.
Re: (Score:2)
What makes you think "reasonable" VPNs will not implement similar policies, or that payment providers won't hit the "unreasonable" ones with restrictions?
Re: (Score:2)
> Get a VPN. We've become a nation so hostile to free speech that we have to use VPNs to watch content that other, freer nations can get openly.
I don't know if I'd go that far, but certainly a nation with a (smaller) segment of the population who really want to exert their beliefs over everyone and another (larger) segment that doesn't seem to care enough, collectively, to stop them -- at least, not yet.
Re: (Score:2)
You mean like the freer nations that pixilate pussies because nobody should be looking at them? Those nations?
Re: (Score:2)
Until they ban VPNs. I mean...they talked about it once. I believe in my state they didn't directly ban them...but there's language that means using one to skirt their laws can incur additional charges.
Re: (Score:1)
Plus all the talk of requiring the use of government ID systems like Id.me, which require personally identifiable tokens to be sent with your every request.
Not the outcome I was expecting (Score:2)
I honestly expected foreign porn sites to just do the old Goatse disclaimer (which was something along the lines of "if you find this image offensive, don't look at it.") rather than blocking users from the US. I'm also not sure if the Japanese porn site operators are trying to make a political statement or if they're genuinely concerned that they'd be arrested if they entered the US on a business trip or vacation.
Inaccurate (Score:2)
> The restrictions include several kinds of content that are illegal in the US, including sexualized depictions of minors and bestiality
Neither of those things are illegal in the United States; the First Amendment strongly protects fiction and art. The reason why Pixiv is geoblocking this stuff is not because of US law, but because of Visa and Mastercard.
Rob
Re: (Score:2)
> The problem is that the Western world continues to force its values and morals on everyone else
It's not "the Western world" so much as the US. I'm pretty sure Spain or Germany have no problem with hentai.
Case in point: I have a [1]payment implant [walletmor.com] in my hand. What that is essentially is a contactless Mastercard payment chip from a keychain wearable that's been extracted from the wearable and embedded in bio-compatible goop.
Well, if the payment processor or Mastercard ever learn that my wearable is in fact under your skin, Mastercard will strike it off their network. It's happened to others who didn't kee
[1] https://walletmor.com/
... and nothing of value was lost (Score:2)
could other websites also do the same?
Oh well (Score:4, Insightful)
I will survive.
Re: (Score:2)
The Miller Test is a terrible standard of enforcement, as it puts juries in the impossible position of trying to determine what has "literary or artistic value" which is an entirely subjective call. Some people can claim that the human body is beautiful and depictions of it are automatically artistic. Others will claim that any nudity at all qualifies as "prurient" and utterly lacks artistic value. There is no way to be objective about this, as these are entirely a matter of opinion.
The intent here is to