Posted: 07th Jun, 2004 By: MarkJ
The Observer newspaper has reported
HERE that BT is preparing to block all illegal child pornography websites. The move signals the first mass censorship of the WWW attempted in a western democracy, albeit one that the vast majority would agree with:
The move, previously thought to be at the limits of technical possibilities of the internet and prohibitively expensive, was given the personal backing of BT chairman Sir Christopher Bland at a board meeting last month after intense pressure from children's charities.
Known as Cleanfeed, the project has been developed in consultation with the Home Office and will go live by the end of the month, The Observer can reveal. Other major players in the internet market, such as Energis and Thus, which owns rival Demon Internet, are said to be preparing to block banned sites.
Subscribers to British Telecom's internet services such as BTYahoo and BTInternet who attempt to access illegal sites will receive an error message as if the page was unavailable. BT will register the number of attempts but will not be able to record details of those accessing the sites.It's worth pointing out that this was hinted at earlier in the year and a number of other providers are expected to follow suit.