UK: User Uptake is Poor on ISP's Adult Filter Option

[engine]

According to the latest research from the UK's regulator, Ofcom, the uptake for the adult filter on broadband is relatively poor. The filters were meant to provide a way of filtering adult content from children.

I'm not surprised, in one respect. It really isn't up to the ISPs to decide, it's up to parents, imho. Additionally, legitimate sites have been blocked though bad programming.

Between 30% to 40% of Sky customers enabled filters, Ofcom's report said.

That compared to 14% for TalkTalk, 12% for Virgin Media and 6% for BT.

Sky automatically enables the feature even if the original request is ignored, which likely explains why it has the highest take-up rate. All ISPs allow users to disable the filters whenever they want. UK: User Uptake is Poor on ISP's Adult Filter Option [bbc.co.uk]

UK ISPs To Offer Optional Blocking For Adult Content [webmasterworld.com]

UK ISP Adult Filters Go Live And Are Censoring Legitimate Sites [webmasterworld.com]

[piatkow]

If I hadn't been following this site I wouldn't have known that my ISP provided the option. As my children have long since grown up and left home I have no immediate need to investigate.

[topr8]

Sky automatically enables the feature even if the original request is ignored, which likely explains why it has the highest take-up rate

although if they only have a 30-40% take-up rate, that implies that 60-70% have actively DIS-abled the adult filter, which is a pretty high percentage.

[piatkow]

although if they only have a 30-40% take-up rate, that implies that 60-70% have actively DIS-abled the adult filter, which is a pretty high percentage.

I don't know how Sky present the option, either they give it very clearly on setup or it has a lot of false positives which gets customers ringing the help desk.

Just logged into my account with my own ISP and found the option under a brand name in small print that makes it look like a chargeable extra. No wonder take up is low!

[engine]

I can only relate to a couple of isps, and one reminds you each time you log in to get the account details, althought its nothing more than a small panel of text. The other makes it clear at initial setup, although it does ask the user for each machine connected, rather than a blanket connection block.

[engine]

And, it now seems Sky will now turn on the adult filter by default for new customers. [bbc.co.uk...]

There's a "Safety Report" from ofcom which has some interesting stats. As it's from Ofcom one would like to think it's going to state the facts. 138 Page PDF [stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk...]

[lucy24]

<tangential but relevant question>
Does each of these options involve a robot (named or otherwise) crawling from an identifiable ISP that webmasters have to make decisions about?
</tbrq>

[engine]

I believe the one from TalkTalk does that each time you visit a site, Lucy.