BT implements porn blocking by default for all new customers

British Telecom (BT) has announced that it will automatically block all adult content for new customers with immediate effect. The new policy is said to be for protecting children from seedy content on all devices connected to BT internet in your home. Previously BT's parental controls was a service aimed desktop/laptop PCs.

BT Parental Controls, a network-based filter, will be activated by default and it will require new customers to untick pre-selected blocking behaviour in order to see any blocked content. Users will be able to switch between different levels of 'moral intensity' applied to the block; choosing between light, moderate and strict filtering. Filters can be configured to be time sensitive and specific blocked sites are customisable. The account holder will be required to provide credentials in order to set up or change any of the settings.

"BT takes the issue of online child protection extremely seriously and we are very pleased to be able to launch the whole-home filter to help parents keep their families safe online. It adds to the many tools we already make available for free to our customers. We’ve been focused on the issue of online safety since we developed the world’s first Cleanfeed filter to block child abuse images and made the technology available free to other ISPs across the world a decade ago," said Pete Oliver, MD Consumer Commercial Marketing and Digital at BT.

BT hopes to raise awareness of the importance and need to protect children online and stresses that the educational aspect on how to do so is also crucial. BT has signed up to the government’s marketing campaign together with other major ISPs and is spending £1.5 million to fund the project Internet Matters: Learn about it. Talk about it. Deal with it.

Existing BT customers will be contacted over the next year in order to be informed of the new controls and have the option to choose whether to have it set up or not.

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Stupid if you ask me just watch this video explains what the internet is about.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kV7ou6pl5wU

So the great firewall of UK takes another step closer

There's a clear sequence:

First, block the child porn. No-one ever objects to that one, it's an easy sell to the public, and it gets the filtering systems in place.
Then you can progress to blocking sites performing criminal activity. After that comes the porn - start off on the kinky stuff, less backlash, and describing BDSM as ‘rape porn’ assures support from certain pressure groups.

A brief detour for sites deemed harmful to children like suicide advice, then start on the ‘hate sites’ - start off with the open racism and calls for violence, and gradually loosen the definition until you can start banning anyone who raises concern about the high immigration rate or ‘promotes religious hatred’ by insulting a religion.

A little loosening of libel law to allow anything insulting anyone to be easily struck down by court order, and you have a government-controlled easily-censored internet - at least for those who aren't dedicated enough activists to seek out the technological underground communities.

I think this is a good step. Kids these days are around PC's more than their less knowledgable parents. There have been too many reports in the papers of late where a little boy has raped another little girl and parents did not stop him from feeding his addiction.

OilSheikh
I think this is a good step. Kids these days are around PC's more than their less knowledgable parents. There have been too many reports in the papers of late where a little boy has raped another little girl and parents did not stop him from feeding his addiction.

That assumes that watching porn makes people (kids in this case) more likely to commit rape, which is not proven by any means.

I think it's a terrible idea, and people like you posting support in these terms are a very dangerous group as you'll push in broad censorship for the masses under some sort of misguided moral crusade despite the lack of evidence.

Wailing “think of the children!” and then banning everything is not the solution.

Apex
So the great firewall of UK takes another step closer

There's a clear sequence:

First, block the child porn. No-one ever objects to that one, it's an easy sell to the public, and it gets the filtering systems in place.
Then you can progress to blocking sites performing criminal activity. After that comes the porn - start off on the kinky stuff, less backlash, and describing BDSM as ‘rape porn’ assures support from certain pressure groups.

A brief detour for sites deemed harmful to children like suicide advice, then start on the ‘hate sites’ - start off with the open racism and calls for violence, and gradually loosen the definition until you can start banning anyone who raises concern about the high immigration rate or ‘promotes religious hatred’ by insulting a religion.

A little loosening of libel law to allow anything insulting anyone to be easily struck down by court order, and you have a government-controlled easily-censored internet - at least for those who aren't dedicated enough activists to seek out the technological underground communities.

Whilst i agree with the sentiment, immunicity is hardly hard to find. I'm not too worried as I'm fairly confident we'll still be governed by complete muppets that couldn't implemetn a firewall if they wanted.

BT implements porn blocking by default for all new customers

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