3 Ireland: Homophobic?
Damien points out today that a number of Irish gay discussion sites are blocked by 3 Ireland when you try to access them via 3G on one of their handsets. Curiously enough their argument for doing so is because these websites are deemed unsuitable for children. However, as noted back in 2007, when 3 took down it’s “walled garden” to allow full Internet access from your handset they introduced a policy of only allowing Internet access if you registered with them and if you were over 18. So there is no need for this at all because children can’t access Internet from their handsets full stop.
Also, another point - you can infact access plenty of “unsuitable” content from your 3 handset. It’s simple really, turning off the “safe search” in google image search will bring up all the pornography you could want on your tiny 2inch screen.
3 Ireland need to remove this ban immediately or face a massive backlash from not just the gay community, but from the blogging community too.
May 13th, 2008 at 6:38 pm
Bizzare, isn’t it? I don’t, however, expect to see much mainstream protest; standing up for the scary, scary gays, especially against this sort of ‘think of the children’ crap, is still a bit beyond the pale for many people.
May 13th, 2008 at 7:41 pm
What country do they think they’re in? China? It really makes me mad, especially considering you can easily access graphic hardcore pornography through your 3 handset, but you can’t have a chat on a discussion board? Ridiculous.
May 14th, 2008 at 1:49 am
two hugely outspoken Irish communities eh?
thats terrible though.
google safe search is a godsend.
May 14th, 2008 at 9:30 am
Holy flaming homophobia batman. Nice post.
I’d have to agree with you, regarding anything to do with the gay community the people of this country have always had a bit of a knee jerk, “Think of the children” reaction.
Its odd, especially when you take into consideration such scandals as Bertie and his “digouts”, and the various church foibles… I can’t wrap my head around why there is still such a stigma attached to being gay….
May 14th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
@B’dum B’dum - Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit ;)
@Darragh - It’s not entirely an Irish issue though, especially considering 3 are a global company, I wonder if they filter “gay” websites for U.K or Australian customers. The thing that annoys me about the whole thing is how they’re basically saying that gay = sex (a 100% homophobic assumption), when infact none of the sites banned have any kind of sexual content to them.
May 17th, 2008 at 4:03 am
Aparantly, they unblocked QueerID today and are offering them a free mobile phone in some sort of a raffle.
May 17th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
So to say sorry they’re having a raffle? Where’s the public apology? At least they’ve started unblocking though, thanks for the update.
June 7th, 2008 at 3:01 am
That’s unbelievable and completely ridiculous in this day and age! I’d bet 3 aren’t the only one’s blocking this content though, have you looked to see if Vodafone or O2 are doing it also?
June 11th, 2008 at 1:04 pm
Vodafone apparently have some pretty odd restrictions, not just “adult” sites.