The Carphone Warehouse ( TalkTalk , AOL UK , Tiscali , Opal etc. ) has confirmed that it is gearing up to launch a new form of 'Parental Control' for broadband ISP customers. This will allow parents to restrict Internet access via cinema-style classifications (U, 14, 18), which will include the blocking of file sharing sites that host illegal torrent downloads (e.g. The PirateBay).

This system would appear to have the benefit of being instantly familiar and will not require the installation of any additional software. Instead the restrictions can be applied by the ISP itself, thus parents selecting U or 14 will be able to block P2P sites, pornography and gambling.


The latest poll of 1,006 respondents by Ipsos MORI recently revealed that 50% of film consumers think it is fair for ISPs to restrict the download speed of "persistent" film pirates, while just 17% thought it was unacceptable. Unreliable government statistics also guesstimate that 7m Brits have illegally downloaded a film or music track.

Carphone's proposed remedy is an interesting one, although it neglects the fact that many new families come from that same 'downloading generation' and might seek P2P content themselves. In addition, no filter is infallible and there will always be ways around it, but then that is true of all potential solutions to this problem.