Home » UK ISP News Archive » Article Tag: Censorship (314 Posts)

Articles for Category Tag - Censorship

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.

Censorship and forbidden speech warning sign uk internet

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.

Parliamentary Committee Starts Scrutinising UK Online Safety Bill

29th July, 2021 (2 Comments)

A new cross-party “super committee” has today begun to scrutinise the UK Government’s new Online Safety Bill (Online Harms), which aims to have Ofcom clampdown on “harmful” online content (e.g. hate speech, bullying, terrorism, conspiracy theories etc.), while precariously trying to balance that with freedom of speech.

High Court Orders Big UK ISPs to Block 19 More Piracy Websites

23rd July, 2021 (20 Comments)

The High Court in London has, following a case raised by the Motion Picture Association of Europe (MPA), issued a new injunction that forces most of the major UK broadband ISPs (e.g. BT, Sky Broadband, TalkTalk, Virgin Media, Plusnet etc.) to block 19 websites that were found to be facilitating internet copyright infringement (piracy).

Lords Committee Warn Online Safety Bill Threatens Free Speech

22nd July, 2021 (9 Comments)

The House of Lords Communications and Digital Committee has today published the outcome of its recent inquiry into freedom of expression, which warns that the UK Government’s new Online Safety Bill (Online Harms) is a “threat to free speech” due to its clampdown on “legal but harmful” content and “would be ineffective.”

Gov Publish UK Online Safety Bill to Censor “Harmful” Content UPDATE

12th May, 2021 (23 Comments)

After much delay the UK Government will today publish a draft of their new Online Safety Bill (Online Harms), which among other things hands Ofcom a new “legal duty of care” that can be used to force websites into removing “harmful” internet content. Failing to do so may risk being fined or blocked by mobile and broadband ISPs.

2021 Queens Speech Touts Online Safety Bill and Broadband Boost

11th May, 2021 (0 Comments)

The Queen has today carried out the first State Opening of Parliament since the pandemic began, which sets out the UK Government’s agenda for the coming session. As expected this included various references to gigabit broadband and mobile connectivity, as well as their plans to publish the controversial Online Safety Bill.

Customers of UK ISP TalkTalk Suffer Mass Website Blocking Bug

1st April, 2021 (21 Comments)

Some of TalkTalk’s UK home broadband ISP customers have suddenly found themselves unable to access lots of different websites (e.g. social media sites, the National Lottery and many more) after the internet provider’s network-level HomeSafe filter for “blocking inappropriate content” suddenly enabled itself, and wouldn’t disable.

Two UK Broadband ISPs Trial New Internet Snooping System

11th March, 2021 (72 Comments)

Two unnamed broadband or mobile ISPs are reportedly helping the UK Home Office and the National Crime Agency (NCA) to trial a new internet snooping system on their customers, which is being conducted as part of the controversial 2016 UK Investigatory Powers Act (aka – snoopers charter).

Court Order Forces UK ISP TalkTalk to Block Sci-Hub Website

18th February, 2021 (17 Comments)

Broadband ISP TalkTalk has this week updated their list of blocked websites (i.e. those where they’ve been ordered by the UK high court to do so) to include the controversial Sci-Hub, which describes itself as being “the first pirate website in the world to provide [free] mass and public access to tens of millions of research papers.”

Rights Holders Seek to Extend UK ISP Site Blocks to Stream Rippers UPDATE

5th February, 2021 (23 Comments)

Major record labels, including the British Recorded Music Industry (BPI) and Phonographic Performance (PPL), have gone to the UK High Court in an attempt to force six of the country’s largest broadband ISPs to extend their website blocks for copyright infringement to include sites that facilitate stream ripping and cyberlocker Nitroflare.

UK Internet Censorship – Damned if you do, Damned if you don’t

18th January, 2021 (68 Comments)

Prompted by Donald Trump’s ban from social media, calls are once again growing from politicians for internet sites to be held liable if they remove lawful content and users. Soon it may be a case of damned if you do, damned if you don’t, as the future approach toward protecting freedom of speech risks doing the opposite.