Home » UK ISP News Archive » Article Tag: Censorship (290 Posts)

Articles for Category Tag - Censorship

2022 Queens Speech Covers Digital Infrastructure and Internet Safety

10th May, 2022 (10 Comments)

Prince Charles has today carried out the State Opening of Parliament event – formally still referred to as the “Queen’s Speech“, which sets out the UK Government’s agenda for the coming session. The speech contained no real surprises, but it did include and reiterate some bills that will impact broadband infrastructure and internet safety.

Censorship Blocked Website Message by UK ISP

Future UK Trade Deals May Add Piracy Website Blocks by ISPs

9th May, 2022 (15 Comments)

In a sign of things to come, it’s interesting to note that the recent free trade agreement between Australia and the United Kingdom included measures that require both sides to provide injunctive relief for website blocking by broadband ISPs – targeted at sites that are found to be facilitating internet copyright infringement (piracy).

Russia Sanctions Add Shock Internet Censorship Twist for UK ISPs UPDATE2

30th April, 2022 (41 Comments)

Broadband and mobile providers were on Friday subjected to a shock twist after the Government – without consultation – amended the Russian sanctions legislation to require that – “a person who provides an internet access service must take reasonable steps to prevent a user of the service in the [UK] from accessing … an internet service provided by a designated person.”

A Quarter of UK Parents Use Content Filters from Broadband ISPs

30th March, 2022 (14 Comments)

A new Ofcom report has found that 61% of parents are aware of the existing network-level internet filtering (Parental Control) tools provided by big UK broadband ISPs, yet only 27% have actually chosen to use them. Meanwhile, 6% of children have circumvented parental controls and 5% used a proxy server to avoid them.

Internet Censorship Beckons as UK Online Safety Bill Hits Parliament

16th March, 2022 (29 Comments)

The UK Government’s controversial Online Safety Bill, which will task Ofcom with clamping down on “harmful” online content (hate speech, bullying, terrorism, conspiracy theories etc.) by threatening such providers with web-blocks, fines and possibly even jail – if they don’t enforce the rules, has today been introduced to parliament.

Error message concept. Alert, attention notification. Important reminder

Government Extends UK Online Safety Bill to Tackle Scam Adverts

8th March, 2022 (15 Comments)

The UK Government has today announced that their controversial new Online Safety Bill (OSB) will be extended to add a new duty, which aims to bring fraudulent paid-for adverts on social media and internet search engines into scope, whether they are controlled by the platform itself or an advertising intermediary.

Censorship and forbidden speech warning sign uk internet

Gov Confirm Measures to Tackle Anonymous UK Internet Trolls

25th February, 2022 (29 Comments)

The Government has today confirmed that they will add two new duties to the Online Safety Bill (OSB), which will act to crackdown on the anonymous online abuse that occurs on the largest social networks. The wider bill also tasks Ofcom with tackling “harmful” internet content through website bans, fines and other sanctions.

Cybersecurity and Human Rights Groups Warn UK Against Encryption Ban

9th February, 2022 (3 Comments)

Some 50 leading security, human rights and technology experts have put their names to a new letter that accuses the UK Government of “misleading the public” with a “scaremongering” campaign against the use of end-to-end encryption on the internet, which helps to keep everything from financial transactions to messaging secure.

Gov Confirms Second Try at UK Internet Age Verification System

8th February, 2022 (23 Comments)

The Government has today confirmed that the new Online Safety Bill will, among many other changes, have another go at introducing a controversial internet age verification system, which will target “all websites” that contain pornographic content. Sites that fail to comply will be blocked by broadband ISPs and mobile operators.

High Court Orders Big UK ISPs to Block Cyberlocker Website

7th February, 2022 (18 Comments)

The High Court has ordered six of the UK’s largest broadband ISPs – Sky Broadband, BT, Plusnet, TalkTalk, Virgin Media and EE – to block customers from accessing a website called Mixdrop, which is described as a “cyberlocker” that facilitated internet piracy (copyright infringement) by allowing users to stream or download TV and film content.

Gov Extend UK Online Safety Bill via New List of Criminal Content

4th February, 2022 (17 Comments)

The Government’s new Online Safety Bill (OSB), which tasks Ofcom with tackling “harmful” content online through website bans, fines and other sanctions, has today extended the legislation via a new list of “criminal content” (e.g. online drug and weapons dealing, people smuggling, revenge porn, fraud etc.) for tech firms to remove as a priority.

DCMS Committee Finds Online Safety Bill Gets the Balance Wrong

24th January, 2022 (1 Comment)

A new cross-party UK report from the DCMS Select Committee has warned that the Government’s new Online Safety Bill (OSB), which will task Ofcom with tackling “harmful” content online, fails to get the balance right and “neither protects freedom of expression nor is it clear nor robust enough to tackle illegal and harmful online content.”

EE Staff Deny UK Mobile Network Blocks Apple’s Private Relay

13th January, 2022 (12 Comments)

Support agents working for mobile operator EE (BT) have denied claims by some UK customers (here and here), and online news reports (here, here and here), that their mobile broadband (4G and 5G) network is intentionally blocking Apple’s iCloud linked ‘Private Relay‘ feature (such a block may clash with Net Neutrality rules).

Court Forces UK ISPs to Block More Nintendo Switch Piracy Sites

22nd December, 2021 (13 Comments)

Nintendo has won another injunction in the High Court, which forces most of the largest UK broadband ISPs – Sky Broadband, BT, Plusnet, TalkTalk, Virgin Media and EE – to block two more websites that facilitated copyright infringement (internet piracy) by helping to distribute video games for the Switch console.

Parliamentary Committee Sets Out Plan for UK Internet Regulation

14th December, 2021 (24 Comments)

The Joint Committee on the controversial Draft Online Safety Bill (OSB), which was setup to help establish the regulatory framework to help Ofcom tackle “harmful” content online (e.g. hate speech, bullying, terrorism, conspiracy theories etc.), has today published its report. But the tougher rules and tighter offences may not all be workable.

Six Big UK ISPs Ordered to Block Five Piracy Streaming Websites

25th October, 2021 (25 Comments)

Several major UK broadband ISPs, including BT, EE, Plusnet, Sky Broadband, TalkTalk and Virgin Media (VMO2), have been ordered by London’s High Court to block six more streaming websites after they were found to be facilitating internet copyright infringement (piracy).

Court Orders UK ISP TalkTalk to Block More Piracy Websites

14th October, 2021 (28 Comments)

Budget broadband ISP TalkTalk has this week updated their list of blocked websites (i.e. those where they’ve been told to do so by the UK High Court) to include a number of new sites that, following an injunction secured by the Motion Picture Association (MPA), were found to be facilitating internet copyright infringement.