UK ISPs To Offer Optional Blocking For Adult Content

[engine]

UK ISPs To Offer Optional Blocking For Adult Content [bbc.co.uk]

Four leading web providers are to offer customers the option to block adult content at the point of subscription.

BT, Sky, TalkTalk and Virgin will offer the protection for smartphones, laptops and PCs.

The prime minister will also launch Parentport - a website to help parents complain about inappropriate content.

The big four ISPs said in a statement that they: "have worked closely with Government and a range of stakeholders to swiftly introduce measures addressing recommendations set out in the Bailey Report."

[piatkow]

A good thing or the thin end of the wedge of censorship?

[engine]

Thin edge of the wedge, imho. Who decides what is adult and what is not?

I completely accept the concept to protect youngsters, but are the ISPs the solution?

[tigger]

Brilliant. I love censorship controlled by the government !

So bascially they will be doing what Net Nanny has been doing since about day 1.

[piatkow]

I accept the need for filtering on searches with an opt-in for full results. I don't want naughty pictures coming up in the office or when I am showing something to an elderly relative. But I don't want whole sites blocked from my surfing by default - apart from the issues of censorship there is the risk of automated filters having too many false positives. The UK counties of Essex and Sussex could vanish from the web along with Scun thorpe

[dstiles]

As far as I can tell one would have to block pretty near every site and then release sites as they become demanded and approved. Can't see that being popular.

This is not something that ISPs can handle.

Apart from anything else, it's currently illegal in the UK to intercept transmissions, which is what the ISPs would have to do. Surely they would not do that...

Well, talktalk DO do that although they call it "virus protection" and apply it retroactively (AFTER the content has been served up) AND they parse it via a chinese company, so plenty of security and privacy protection there.

BT experimented with Phorm and was not slapped down, although Europe got a bit threatening about it until their "IT guru" changed and they decided it was not a problem after all.

Virgin almost tried Phorm but seemed to have better sense in the end.

Sky is a shambles anyway and would probably do anything.

So, even if it's illegal to intercept traffic (Deep Packet Inspection) that will not matter - in UK. I understand USA has been rather harsher, though.

Still, it would make it easier to present tailored advertising, eh? :)

[tigger]

you guys have clearly never heard of Net Nanny - I find it extremely annoying when parents bleat about #*$! on the internet and there poor little kiddies seeing content they shouldn't but as parents they don't do a thing to block it!

I'm in the adult industry and I think its about time parents started being parents rather than blaming the "big bad adult industry" for letting there poor little joey see naughty photos -

do something about yourselves and install Net Nanny - job done and the little kiddies are safe to play online