Something must be done – I
It is human nature to fear the new. And for many of us, the internet is still new. I have pointed out before that Lilian Edwards observes (in “The internet and security: do we need a man with a red flag walking in front of every computer?” (2007) 4 (1) SCRIPT-ed 1 (March 2007)), rather like those who feared cars so much that early models had to be preceded by a man walking ahead with a red flag to warn people of the approach of the new-fangled invention, there are now those who would red-flag everything about the internet. Sometimes, these fears are well-founded; on other occasions, they are exaggerated and misplaced. But the usual response – and in particular, the usual political response – is to do something to soothe those fears, whether or not well-founded. The cry goes up: “Something must be done”; and something is indeed done, whether it is necessary or not. This is particularly so when the cry that goes up is “Won’t someone please think of the children?“; hence, when the something is being done, it is often justified as being done in the best interests of children, again whether it is necessary or not.…
