Everyone is against censorship these days. Prime Minister Blair is against it (but he wants to make racist remarks illegal). The regulatory body Internet Watch is against it (but they have removed over two thousand items from the Net). Even police Superintendent Mike Hoskins claimed that 'censorship is not in my vocabulary' (but threatened legal action against ISPs if they did not censor Net material).

So just what does it mean to support "free speech" today? Does free speech exclude pornographic material? Or racist Hate Speech? What about threatening remarks? Many people who claim to support free speech can also think of a number of exceptions. A position summed up by the dictum "I'm against censorship, but...".

When it comes to free speech, Internet Freedom has no "buts". We support freedom of expression without reservation. Freedom of speech for our enemies just as much as our supporters. Not because we think our opponents views are equally valid, but because we put a premium on people's ability to make up their own minds.

There is little point in focusing on the uncontroversial examples of free speech when just about everybody claims to be against censorship. Instead Internet Freedom seeks to tackle people's reservations and uncertainties head on. By considering some of the most controversial examples we hope to clarify the issues and reassert the case for free speech.

Past controversy features have provoked threats and have led to our site being closed more than once. But this has simply made us more resolute in our determination to allow Net users to judge things for themselves. We hope that you will.