Big four ISPs publish pornography blocking plans

THE UK'S BIG FOUR internet service providers (ISPs) have published what they hope will be the basis for their role as pornography police.

The ISPs BT, Sky, Talk Talk and Virgin Media have published a Code of Practice that covers what they see as their commitments for their role in informing and educating users about what they can do to steer clear of adult material.

Rather than block pornography, which was the headline news when the initiative was first touted, the ISPs will give parents an "active choice" over what content they take into their homes while developing potential blocking methods.

It was welcomed by Communications Minister Ed Vaizey. "I am pleased to see industry is taking action to help parents protect their children online. The new code of conduct is a real, practical step to ensure households make a choice about parental controls when opening a new internet account," said Vaizey.

"I look forward to continuing to work with the ISPs and the rest of the industry to help children enjoy the benefits of the internet safely."

Under their own proposed guidelines the ISPs will act to raise awareness of parental controls, and offer users the choice of network or PC-based web controls. These, they explained, will filter access to the internet. The ISPs said that this would be an enforced choice. Regular reminders, at least once a year, will remind users that they can block material and the "enforced choice" is expected to be in place by October 2012.

Implementation of these plans starts immediately, and the ISPs said that they will announce technical developments - perhaps these will include how they expect to block online content - as they happen. From the looks of the document the ISPs will work on their own measures. µ