|
News Desk Conservatives are discussing plans to force Internet Service Companies to block hard core pornography sites after a report showing that six out of 10 children download adult material due to ineffective online filters. The Government is expected to suggest that the ISC could give parents the option to censor what their children are watching online. A future automatic block of pornographic material from home internet accounts will ensure families could use the internet in safety, David Cameron said. Critics of the possible new law characterise it impractical, expensive and draconian while claiming that the government’s action aims to appease the right wing newspapers which had campaigned for such a filter and account for government’s poor performance critiques. Nick Pickles, director of Big Brother Watch, said: ‘The focus should be on how parents can have the tools to protect their children without the Government deciding what we can all see online. […] As recognised by Ofcom, it is trivial to get around an opt-in blocking system, so it would be totally wrong for this to be used as an excuse to spy all our internet activity.’ Nicholas Lansman, ISPA secretary general, said: ‘Forcing ISPs to filter adult content at the network level, which users then have to opt out of, is neither the most effective nor most appropriate way to prevent access to inappropriate material online. He added that the measure reduces the degree of active interest and has clear implications for freedom of speech. Although the major phone companies had signed a voluntary pledge in 2004 to block certain adult content on most mobiles – as a result of which many users had to contact the provider to lift the block- there is no similar opt-in obligation on internet service providers. The government’s action followed a report which showed that six out of 10 children download adult material because their parents have not installed filters. During the last three years the use of protective filters in homes has fallen from 49 per cent to 39 per cent. Parents were often baffles by their web-savvy children and felt unconfident in installing and updating content filters.
|
