UK Government Preps New Code for Blocking Adult Content on Public WiFi

The UK Prime Minister, David Cameron, has confirmed that the government is preparing to detail a new Code of Conduct that will require operators of public wireless internet (wifi) hotspots to block adult content (e.g. pornography).

Many cafes, train stations, airports and other locations now offer free or paid wifi access to their visitors and a few already impose skin-deep restrictions to limit access to adult content (though for some reason the Daily Mail still isn’t blocked). But the new code could see such policies being extended to all public wifi hotspots.

David Cameron, Prime Minister, said (Telegraph):

“We are promoting good, clean, WiFi in local cafes and elsewhere to make sure that people have confidence in public WiFi systems so that they are not going to see things they shouldn’t.”

However at present it’s unclear when the new wifi code, which is being loosely linked with the government’s still on-going and often controversial efforts to force fixed line broadband ISPs into blocking adult websites (here), will actually be published.

So far no timeframe has been set for its implementation and many other details remain unknown, such as how it would be enforced and whether the responsibility would rest with the network operator or the shops/cafes that distribute their service.

Meanwhile Cameron remains adamant that fostering a new culture of “clean wifi” could help to revitalise local high street shops, although we’d submit that they’ll need a lot more than censored wifi to achieve that goal. We perhaps live in an odd society where the sight of natural male or female anatomy is now apparently supposed to be more shocking than the violence often depicted in pre-bedtime TV shows and soaps.

As usual anybody with even a small amount of knowledge, which is something that Children usually manage to possess, should have no trouble getting around such restrictions.