By: MarkJ - 7 February, 2012 (1:08 AM) - Score: 1794 - Security, Privacy

Broadband ISP TalkTalk claims to have become the first UK internet provider to give new customers (i.e. parents) an "Active Choice" about whether or not to block adult web content as part of their subscription process (i.e. "a choice at the point of purchase").

By the end of February TalkTalk states that all new customers will be asked upfront if they want to activate the ISPs free network level internet filtering service (HomeSafe). BT , Virgin Media and Sky Broadband have also agreed with the UK government to do the same (original news), although it's not clear how advanced their implementations are.



The ISP claims 60% of parents worry that their child might accidentally look at "inappropriate content" online and just 31% of parents were very confident that their child is protected from online threats.

But passing the buck onto ISPs, which seems to be an increasingly common pastime for the UK government, ignores the fact that Parental Control solutions and software are already widely available. Such services are also no substitute for good parenting, easily circumvented and sometimes end up blocking the wrong content (e.g. educational pages).

On the other hand ISPs aren't actually offering anything radically new, except for making the availability of such features more obvious. The real danger is that some parents might enable these features and then incorrectly assume that the internet is now safe.