British government’s Internet censor in child abuse scandal

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A Simple Question: Internet censorship in the West

10 January 2014

Despite its historic and international reputation for heralding free speech, the United Kingdom has the second strictest censorship of the internet in the European Union.

The UK has a number of laws and policies that restrict the way information can be made public, including some that make it illegal to report on information that the government or corporations are trying to keep secret.

During the London riots, David Cameron ordered the censorship of social networking sites, and his censorship plans have been applauded by China.

Western governments are attempting to put forward laws that further restrict the freedoms of internet usage such as the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), Protect IP Act (PIPA) and Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA).

These are all argued to be internet filtering systems and policies on a national and international level that stifle the ability of internet users to discuss, question and critique and risks the internet becoming a tool of political and economic power for the ruling elite.

In this edition of the show we talk to British public about the Freedom of Information in the West and ask; why do you think Western governments engage in censorship and make it illegal for the public to share certain information?

From daily The Guardian in Britain:

Cameron aide arrested over allegations relating to child abuse images

Patrick Rock resigned as deputy head of Downing Street‘s policy last month on day before arrest

Nicholas Watt, chief political correspondent

Tuesday 4 March 2014

A senior aide to David Cameron resigned from Downing Street last month the day before being arrested on allegations relating to child abuse images.

Patrick Rock, who was involved in drawing up the government’s policy for the large internet firms on online pornography filters, resigned after No 10 was alerted to the allegations.

Rock was arrested at his west London flat the next morning. Officers from the National Crime Agency subsequently examined computers and offices used in Downing Street by Rock, the deputy director of No 10’s policy unit, according to the Daily Mail, which disclosed news of his arrest.

No 10 confirmed on Monday evening that Rock had been arrested. A spokesman: “On the evening of 12 February, Downing Street was first made aware of a potential offence relating to child abuse imagery. It was immediately referred to the National Crime Agency (CEOP).

“The prime minister was immediately informed and kept updated throughout. Patrick Rock was arrested at his home in the early hours of 13 February, a few hours after Downing Street had reported the matter. Subsequently, we arranged for officers to come into No 10 and have access to all IT systems and offices they considered relevant.

“This is an ongoing investigation so it would not be appropriate to comment further, but the prime minister believes that child abuse imagery is abhorrent and that anyone involved with it should be properly dealt with under the law.”

The arrest of Rock, 62, who had been tipped for a Tory peerage, will have come as a severe shock to the PM and the Tory establishment.

Cameron and Rock worked together as special advisers to Michael Howard in his time as home secretary in the mid 1990s. Rock later worked for Lord Patten alongside Cameron’s chief of staff, Ed Llewellyn, during his time as a European commissioner in Brussels.

Rock was never a member of Cameron’s innermost circle, whose members are closer to the prime minister’s age. But he was a respected and trusted figure who shared Cameron’s sense of humour.

The Daily Telegraph columnist Benedict Brogan recalled in 2011, when Rock started working in No 10, that he and Cameron repaired to the Two Chairmen pub on the day John Smith died in 1994.

“We both agreed that Blair coming meant that we would be fucked,” he was quoted as saying. Brogan also wrote that Rock coined the phrase: “Cows moo, dogs bark, Labour put up taxes.”

Rock helped to draw up government policy which led to the deal with the internet giants on online filters. Under the deal, all households connected to the internet will be contacted to be asked if they would like the filters installed.

Rock faced embarrassment last year when he was photographed walking up Downing Street clutching a document outlining progress on hundreds of pledges made by the coalition. Ed Miliband said the document, which admitted that some of the 399 pledges had not been met, was an “audit of coalition broken promises“.

Patrick Rock: hard-nosed, influential member of Tory party establishment. The 62-year-old, who has been arrested over allegations relating to child abuse images, was deputy director of policy for No 10: here.

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