Biggest Four UK ISPs Launch Online Child Safety Website – Internet Matters

As expected the Government has nudged BT, TalkTalk, Virgin Media and Sky Broadband into launching a new portal called InternetMatters.ORG, which represents a joint internet safety campaign that aims to help both parents and children to understand the dangers of the online world and how to protect themselves.

The move is part of a wider campaign that the country’s biggest Internet providers have been forced to adopt following Government pressure and the threat of new legislation to combat any online content that politicians deem unsuitable for younger eyes.

As part of this effort ISPs have already implemented easy-to-circumvent network-level filtering (Parental Control) solutions to censor bad content, which as well as blocking most but not all porn sites it can also be used to censor other things like Facebook, beauty/cosmetic websites and online dating.

Ed Vaizey, Communications Minister, said:

“The government takes the issue of child safety online extremely seriously and is delighted to see the ISPs fulfil their commitment to the Prime Minister and come together to help parents with information on how to keep their children safe online and how to talk to them about using the internet safely.

The Internet Matters campaign is the latest in a series of measures to help parents in this area, including action on family friendly filters that allow parents to prevent their children from accessing potentially harmful content, more filters on public wifi in areas where children are likely to be and the introduction of online safety to the new national curriculum.

This excellent campaign can make a real difference and help the UK to lead the way on this issue.”

The new website covers everything from sexting to cyberbullying and personal identity theft, although it’s fundamentally just a very useful information portal and after that there’s not a lot else to say. Finally, here’s the accompanying video of David Cameron telling us about the government’s mission to protect children online. But like most political speeches you can probably give it a miss.