Home
 » ISP News » 
Sponsored Links

Web Filtering Firm Smoothwall Warns UK Not to Force Net Censorship on ISPs

Tuesday, May 8th, 2012 (9:00 am) - Score 2,201

Smoothwall, the UK’s largest supplier of school based website filtering (blocking) solutions, has warned the government not to force broadband ISPs into imposing default internet censorship of adult websites upon their customers. The firm claims that such systems are a “very blunt instrument” and don’t stop young people who “actively seek” such content.

The comments follow shortly after last week’s controversial announcement of a new consultation on whether or not internet providers should be required to introduce a default (i.e. you would have to opt yourself out later) or optional “opt-in” style of adult content filtering system for “all internet accounts” in the country (here).

Richard Moore, Managing Director of Smoothwall, said:

The challenge of simply keeping up with the sites that have to be blocked would be massive. Our experience in the education sector also demonstrates that simply blocking websites encourages students to find ways to defeat it.

Blocking at the network level is a very blunt instrument. It may help to prevent young people coming across pornography unintentionally, but probably won’t stop those actively seeking it. Many other totally legitimate sites may be caught by the block as well.

It’s unreasonable to expect ISPs to provide a solution to this problem working alone. All the stakeholders in industry and society need to be involved – especially parents who should be encouraged to have an active role in controlling what their children see.”

The fact that a web filtering firm has effectively admitted that such censorship solutions don’t work would, in an ideal world, give the government pause to reflect upon the reality of what they’re proposing. But we suspect that won’t happen.

It’s also worth remembering that sales of commercial Parental Control solutions would suffer if ISPs are forced to enable similar systems by default. Smoothwall itself has a £5 million turnover and employs over 100 staff across its offices in Leeds, Southampton, North Carolina (USA) and California (USA). The firm’s products are used in thousands of UK schools and colleges.

Advertisement

Mark-Jackson
By Mark Jackson
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook and .
Search ISP News
Search ISP Listings
Search ISP Reviews

Comments are closed

Cheap BIG ISPs for 100Mbps+
Community Fibre UK ISP Logo
150Mbps
Gift: None
NOW UK ISP Logo
NOW £25.00
100Mbps
Gift: None
Virgin Media UK ISP Logo
Virgin Media £25.00
132Mbps
Gift: None
Vodafone UK ISP Logo
Vodafone £26.50 - 27.00
150Mbps
Gift: None
Plusnet UK ISP Logo
Plusnet £27.99
145Mbps
Gift: None
Large Availability | View All
Cheapest ISPs for 100Mbps+
Gigaclear UK ISP Logo
Gigaclear £19.00
300Mbps
Gift: None
Brsk UK ISP Logo
Brsk £19.00
150Mbps
Gift: None
Community Fibre UK ISP Logo
150Mbps
Gift: None
YouFibre UK ISP Logo
YouFibre £22.99
150Mbps
Gift: None
Hey! Broadband UK ISP Logo
150Mbps
Gift: None
Large Availability | View All
The Top 15 Category Tags
  1. FTTP (5899)
  2. BT (3615)
  3. Politics (2673)
  4. Business (2392)
  5. Openreach (2382)
  6. Building Digital UK (2308)
  7. Mobile Broadband (2097)
  8. FTTC (2073)
  9. Statistics (1867)
  10. 4G (1770)
  11. Virgin Media (1719)
  12. Ofcom Regulation (1551)
  13. Fibre Optic (1451)
  14. Wireless Internet (1442)
  15. FTTH (1384)
Promotion
Sponsored

Copyright © 1999 to Present - ISPreview.co.uk - All Rights Reserved - Terms , Privacy and Cookie Policy , Links , Website Rules , Contact
Mastodon