All major UK ISPs prepping network-level porn 'n' violence filters


Recommended Posts

All major UK ISPs prepping network-level porn 'n' violence filters

Analysis TalkTalk - it would seem - has blazed an unlikely trail for Britain's big name ISPs by being the first telco to switch on network level filtering of web content. Now, after many months resisting the urge to apply such controls to their services, the other major providers - BSkyB, Virgin Media and BT - have all decided to follow suit.

Your correspondent recently chaired an Internet Service Providers' Association event at which the panel and audience discussed how effective current measures were in protecting children online. The confab proved revealing - with BT and Virgin Media publicly stating for the first time that they too would be introducing network-level filters on their services later this year.

As we reported in February, BSkyB confirmed that it had concluded that computer-based parental controls were no longer enough to protect kids who use web-based services on a variety of devices. It will shortly begin filtering content using DNS lookup, the company's policy director Adam Kinsley disclosed during the debate.

And DNS lookup appears to be the preferred method: it's to be adopted by Virgin Media and BT, too.

Some might argue that the country's big name telcos have been strong-armed into agreeing to network-level filtering in a move to avoid regulatory action from the government. Interestingly, the industry's change of heart comes months after Prime Minister David Cameron labelled network-level filtering a "crude system".

He appeared to have softened his original stance at that stage, agreeing that ultimately it was up to parents to decide what their kids should and shouldn't view online. At that point, telcos - apart from TalkTalk with its enthusiasm for network-level blocking - continued to advocate the industry's Active Choice code by offering up software to allow their subscribers to manage the filtering of content on their own computers.

But the mood has now changed and the outcome - according to Sky's Kinsley - is good for public policy.

His company will soon introduce its "whole home" filtering system to customers on an opt-in basis. Kinsley admitted that the system itself was "not perfect" and wouldn't "solve all the problems" associated with protecting kids from supposedly harmful content, but he told me that "it feels like the right thing to do now".

Source and more

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I use OpenDNs in my house on the devices that need stuff blocked and it works fine

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is opt-out, right?

Just noticed, it's opt-in.

Even if it is (I've not checked) - it should be Opt-In and not Opt-Out !!

Oops just saw you edit your post!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is a good thing? It's an opt-in service that allows people to setup filters who wouldn't otherwise know how (most people don't know what opendns is).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm not sure it would bother me that much, if it wasn't opt-in. It's only a quick phone call to get it "fixed".

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm not sure it would bother me that much, if it wasn't opt-in. It's only a quick phone call to get it "fixed".

"Hi, this is (insert your ISP name here) customer support, how can we help you?"

"Erm, please can you re-enable the porn on my PC..."

"Sorry, I didn't get that? Can you say that again?"

"GIVE ME MY PORN BACK!!"

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is a good thing? It's an opt-in service that allows people to setup filters who wouldn't otherwise know how (most people don't know what opendns is).

yeah but depends on how aggressive it is

for example

is a news story about the war in Syria going to be classed as Violence? if so your never gonna be able to read about anything going on in the world lol

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Won't someone think of the children -- how will they masturbate ... ?

Parents try to encourage their kids to read more books at this time and age and this will be another reason to do so..... Go back to the old time magazines :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This topic is now closed to further replies.