Government ends web porn blocking consultation

THE UK GOVERNMENT is closing its consultation on whether online pornography blocking should be opt-in or opt-out.

The debate has drawn strong opinions on both sides, and some ISPs have already implemented their own blocks, however, other groups have warned that automatic filtering is not a good idea and one that will not work.

In an open letter published by pressure group Big Brother Watch and signed by a range of other interested parties, the government was told that parents are the best people to look after children, not policy makers.

The letter is signed by Nick Pickles, director of Big Brother Watch, Agnes Callamard, executive director of Article 19, Mike O'Connor CBE, chief executive of Consumer Focus, Jeff Lynn, chairman of The Coalition For A Digital Economy, Jim Killock, executive director of the Open Rights Group, Kirsty Hughes, chief executive of Index on Censorship, Dominique Lazanski. head of digital policy at Taxpayers Alliance and Professor Ross Anderson, chair of the Foundation for Information Policy Research.

The letter, sent to the Department for Education, warns that a system of 'default blocking' would be a "short sighted and dangerous step" that would do little to "empower parents or children".

"Blocking is trivial to circumvent and it is likely a default blocking system would lull parents into a false sense of security," it says.

"A more complex, connected world needs parents to engage more with their children on issues of safety, privacy and personal development - default blocking undermines this dialogue. We do not believe that default filtering across the UK, mandated by Government, should be the way forward."

Rather, they say, porn filters and such technology should be improved. These then would give parents an option to block material if they wanted to. Default blocking, they warn, could harm the UK's reputation as a good place to do internet business and should be avoided.

"The over-blocking of legitimate sites undermines the UK's attractiveness as a place for digital businesses to grow and erodes all citizens' choice while doing little to empower parents or ensure that children stay safe online."

The government's consultation closes today.

Some ISPs already offer their users adult material blocking software, including Talktalk, and WiFi provider the Cloud has told us that from this week it is filtering out adult content by default. µ