Sky Broadband Shield Clarifies UK Adult Internet Filtering Policy

UK ISP Sky Broadband has today confirmed that their network-level filtering (Parental Control) services are now “rolling out” to all of their customers, which in Sky Shield’s case means that existing customers will now be given an option about whether or not to disable the filter and if they don’t make a decision then it will be enabled by default.

New customers have been given the option for awhile and the other major ISPs started doing much the same thing at the end of last year for existing subscribers (here), although Sky’s approach is arguably a little more aggressive. For example, BT prompts existing customers by hijacking their web browsing session with an enforced choice and customers cannot continue browsing unless they make a decision.

By comparison, Sky Broadband has taken a different approach and said that they wouldn’t stop customers from browsing, although those who didn’t decide when prompted will ultimately find that the filtering gets enabled by default as they are assumed to want it switched on. One difficulty here is that some people may confuse the nag screen as spam and ignore it or make a wrong decision.

Like other services Sky Broadband Shield also includes multiple block categories (social networking, porn etc.) and a Watershed feature, which offers adjustable settings with age rating options (e.g. PG, 13, 18, Custom or none) for different times of the day.

Lyssa McGowan, Sky’s Brand Director for Communications Products, said:

“What we’re doing now is simply making sure that the automatic position of Sky Broadband Shield is the safest one for all – that’s ‘on’, unless customers choose otherwise.

From January, we’ll be emailing our customers who haven’t chosen to activate or disable Sky Broadband Shield explaining its benefits and giving them the opportunity to make a decision one way or the other. Customers can activate Sky Broadband Shield, adjust or decline it at any time. Or they can simply wait for us to turn it on.

So how will it work? When trying to visit a website deemed unsuitable for children under the age of 13 during the day, customers will see a page reminding them to make a choice about filtering. At this point, they can accept the current setting, change their protection levels or simply turn Sky Broadband Shield off.

Once Sky Broadband Shield is active, users cannot access a filtered site unless they choose to log in and alter their settings.”

But before anybody chastises Sky and or the other major ISPs for doing this, take note that they were all put under considerable political pressure and threatened with legislation if they failed to comply. Legislation is something that the ISPs would understandably wish to avoid, not least because big commercial operators aren’t MPs and have to abide by the laws of the land.. no matter how silly.

Meanwhile critics of such filtering warn that it’s incredibly easy to circumvent (Proxy Servers, VPN etc.) and sometimes getting around the blocking is as simple as enabling Turbo Mode in the Opera website browser or merely visiting a proxy redirection website. In addition, the filtering doesn’t always work, such as last year’s incorrect blocking of help sites for victims of self-harm and sexual abuse.

In other cases there have also been complaints about the overzealous list of filtering categories which, aside from giving options for the obvious things (gambling, porn etc.), can also include more questionable selections (e.g. beauty products, social networking etc.).

Meanwhile Ofcom’s recent study (here) suggests that many people aren’t interested in enabling such filters (not everybody has kids) or feel as if they need it. The figures for take-up of such filtering services by new customers to whom it was offered were 36% for TalkTalk (HomeSafe has been running for years), 8% for Sky, 5% for BT and 4% for Virgin Media (Web Safe).