Reykjavík Grapevine - 01.03.2013, Blaðsíða 8

Minister of the Interior Ögmundur Jónas-
son said last month that he is considering
proposing legislation that would, among
other things, give the Icelandic state the
power to block pornography from be-
ing accessed from computers in Iceland
through nationwide content-filtering.

BOO HISS CENSORSHIP!
BOO HISS BADMAN!
Nationwide content-filtering is not a
new thing. It is most infamously done by
China and other undemocratic regimes,
but other states have done it as well.
For example, the Norwegian state has a
voluntary agreement with local internet
service providers to block access to child
pornography.

WELL YES, NO ONE ACTU-
ALLY MINDS IF PAEDO-
PHILES CAN'T ACCESS
CHILD PORNOGRAPHY.
Indeed. Former French President Nicolas
Sarkozy also threatened to make access-
ing websites related to terrorism a crime,
though nothing came of that. Iceland’s
Minister of the Interior has not actually
proposed legislation yet, but merely indi-
cated that he was considering methods,
content-filtering among them, to limit ac-
cess to pornography.

BUT THE INTERNET TOLD
ME THAT ICELAND IS BAN-
NING PORN!
As a member of the European Economic
Area, Iceland is bound by most European
Union directives, including one on elec-
tronic commerce that prohibits internet
service providers from monitoring what
their subscribers access and use.

AH YES, EU DIRECTIVE
2000/31/EC, I KNOW IT
WELL. BUT IT WON'T STOP
A NORWAY-LIKE SCHEME
IF ISPS SIGN UP TO A
PORN BAN.
That is unlikely as all of Iceland is not
against pornography, though there are a
number of people who think that there
is too much of it. In fact, pornography is
technically illegal according to Article
210 of the Icelandic Penal Code. Though
as Ögmundur Jónasson points out, the law
does not define what pornography is.
ACCORDING TO MY PENAL
CODE, I KNOW IT WHEN I
SEE IT.
That gets to the root of the matter. Ög-
mundur Jónasson wants to establish a
committee to define exactly what is and
is not pornography. However, that is noto-
riously hard to get a grip on.
WHY ALL THIS EFFORT?
WHAT'S THE BIG PAYOFF
AT THE END OF IT?
Ögmundur Jónasson feels that pornogra-
phy is too easily accessible to people, that
Iceland, much like the rest of the world,
has been inundated by porn, much of
which is of unclear provenance and ethi-
cality. To quote the man himself: "I want
to prevent access to an industry which
profits from abusing people."
NOW, THAT'S NOT FAIR.
THE ADULT INDUSTRY
IS REGULATED AND
MONITORED... IN SOME
PLACES.
Even the staunchest advocates of pornog-
raphy would admit that the adult industry
does not exactly go out of its way to make
sure that all its products foreground fe-
male agency or, for that matter, consent.

BUT WHAT ABOUT
FEMALE-FRIENDLY POR-
NOGRAPHY? JAMES DEEN
IS FAMOUS NOW, YOU
KNOW. RESPECTABLE
MAGAZINES INTERVIEW
HIM.

'James Deen' is another phrase you prob-
ably should not Google for. At least not
at work. There is indeed female-friendly
pornography. In fact there exists such a
thing as the Feminist Porn Award. If you
do not believe me, just Google for it. But
wait until you are home. Still, that kind
of material is something you have to look
long and hard for, while the other kind of
pornography is only a mistyped Google
search away.

YEAH, I'VE HAD THAT
HAPPEN WITH 'DOCKS,'
'BANAL' AND 'HAY-ON-
WYE BOOK FESTIVAL.'
THAT'S WHAT I TOLD MY
BOSS, ANYWAY, WHEN HE
THREATENED TO FIRE ME
UNLESS I STOPPED LOOK-
ING AT PORN AT WORK.

Insipid eight-year-olds who are interested
in harbours and literary gatherings are
just as likely to make those same typos.
That said, appealing to safeguarding
children against ethically problematic
material has a rather sordid history, from
temperance to anti-gay campaigns all the
way to modern Chinese effort to censor
the internet.

NO ONE SHOULD MAKE
ME THINK OF THE CHIL-
DREN. ESPECIALLY IN THE
CONTEXT OF PORN.
While it is indeed a concern that porn is
so pervasive in society, it will take some
very persuasive arguments to convince a
majority of Icelanders that some kind of
state-run content filter for internet por-
nography is the most effective way to
change that. Until that happens it is very
unlikely that a nationwide internet porn
ban is enacted.

IT'S A SLIPPERY SLOPE,
Y'KNOW. FIRST THEY
COME FOR THE PORN,
AND I SAID HEY, I WAS
USING THAT. THEN THEY
COME FOR... UH... JUST
PLEASE DON'T TAKE MY
PORN, IT'S THE ONLY
THING THAT GETS ME
THROUGH ANOTHER
DREARY WORK WEEK.
While the world would be little worse off
if the porn industry vanished from the
face of the planet, history suggests that
it is incredibly tricky to write legisla-
tion that only targets one certain type of
pornography, while keeping safe the very
important rights of consenting adults to
do whatever the fuck they like.
So What's This Porn Ban
I Keep Hearing About?
Words
Kári Tulinius
Illustration
Inga María Brynjarsdóttir
February was a busy month for
Iceland, with the people and gov-
ernment wrapped up in porn, the
constitution and the FBI.
Early in the month,
Eyþór Ingi Gunn-
laugsson was chosen
to represent Iceland
at the 2013 Eurovi-
sion Song Contest,
belting out the ballad “Ég Á Lif.”
The selection was not without
scandal, however, as the interwebs
were abuzz with speculation that
the tune bears a striking resem-
blance to the song ‘I Am Cow’ by
Canadian musical comedy group
The Arrogant Worms. STEF, Ice-
land’s copyright gurus, determined
the comparison to be laughable.
From international
song contests to in-
ternational torture
scandals, Iceland
was named one of
25 European na-
tions implicated in
the CIA's extraordinary rendition
operations by allowing CIA planes,
possibly carrying prisoners over-
seas to be illegally interrogated
or tortured, to land in Icelandic
airports. All European countries
involved could face prosecution
at the European Court of Human
Rights.
Ex-Baugur boss
Jón Ásgeir Jóhan-
nesson was found
guilty of tax eva-
sion in Iceland’s
Supreme Court
after filing errone-
ous tax returns on 172 million ISK
in earnings. He was also convicted
of several counts of tax irregulari-
ties related to his work at Baugur.
This speed-bump didn’t slow down
the tycoon of questionable busi-
ness ethics, though. He laughed
off the conviction, took up shop on
the board of a high-end U.K. barber
chain, and went about (allegedly)
applying pressure to journalists at
365 (a media house whose board
he sits on) to write more favourably
of him.
It came to light that
the FBI had arrived
in Iceland in 2011 to
question a hacker
who had allegedly
tipped them off
about an upcoming
attack on government computers.
Minister of the Interior Ögmun-
dur Jónasson called ‘bullshit’ and
asked them to leave, as he believed
they were actually in the country
to investigate Wikileaks. This has
been discussed a lot in Alþingi
this month with Siggi, the hacker,
speaking to the caucus last week,
flanked dramatically by two body-
guards.
– Continues over –
NEWS IN BRIEF
FEBRUARY
The Reykjavík Grapevine Issue 3 — 2013 8
Iceland | FAQ