What did you last read on the internet? Perhaps you browsed a vintage wine list, planned a holiday or—more in keeping with the times—investigated which newly nationalised bank offers the best rates. Would you object to advertisements popping up for Chateau Latour, Caribbean resorts or Bradford & Bingley? Might you feel your privacy had been violated by new companies able to record your surfing habits and feed you adverts based on where you had been? Or would you welcome this as a useful service?

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“Take away the right to say ‘fuck,’” said Lenny Bruce, “and you take away the right to say ‘fuck the government.’” Last December, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Andy Burnham, announced that when it comes to the Internet, “There is content that should just not be available to be viewed. That is my view. Absolutely categorical.” He proposed to start deciding what Internet users can and cannot view by introducing filters which would screen Web pages for obscene content. He was, quite literally, proposing to take away our right to say ‘fuck’.

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