James Delahunty
23 May 2012 20:13
Google says proposals would be a "mistake."
It took part in a debate in Hertfordshire over whether ISPs should do what mobile networks do with Internet porn; filter it automatically and require that a subscriber opt in to view porn (and prove their age). The UK government is currently consulting with ISPs about the proposal.
TalkTalk, a UK ISP, already offers a porn filter on its network, but subscribers have to opt in to switch it on. The filter is being marketed mostly toward parents, who would rather a network-level blockade of pornographic content to an application they install locally. Symantec maintains the list of "inappropriate" websites for TalkTalk.
"We believe that children shouldn't be seeing pornography online. We disagree on the mechanisms. It's not that easy," Sarah Hunter, Google's head of public policy, said. "There is a problem about the extent to which we deskill parents by giving them simple solutions. We should be making more effort than we've done in the past to make sure parents really do know the risks children face online."
Even TalkTalk is opposed to the concept of an automatic filter on all subscribers. According to Andrew Heaney, TalkTalk's executive director of strategy and regulation, such an automatic filter would be a "slippery slope."
"Certainly do not force them to turn it to default on. We step over this Rubicon into a dangerous world," he said.
Digital rights groups have slammed the UK government's proposals as nothing other than censorship. "We're talking about blocking legal content. Child porn is not the same as blocking legal adult content that is available in our society," said Kirsty Hughes, chief executive of Index on Censorship.
"Who decides what is blocked? Who puts together these lists? This is a form of censorship. We're talking about putting legal communication, information, either out of bounds or something you have to turn on to be part of that free world."