Representatives from several major broadband providers, including TalkTalk , BT and Virgin Media UK, will next week meet with the government's Communications Minister, Ed Vaizey, to thrash out the best way of implementing an automatic universal block of internet porn sites.

The moves follows a recent proposal by Claire Perry (Conservative MP for Wiltshire) (here), which called upon all UK ISPs to restrict universal access to pornographic content by implementing an age restricted opt-in system.


It's worth pointing out that many ISPs already offer Parental Controls and most mobile operators also impose similar restrictions by default, which usually require Credit Card Verification to disable. There are also plenty of third party software solutions available.


Restrictions like this can only ever be skin deep because ISPs are "mere conduits" of information on the internet. As a result there are many ways around ISP level Internet censorship, from anonymous browsing sites to direct proxy servers, VPN and even DNS changes.

Children are often more knowledgeable of such circumvention methods than their parents. ISP controls are ultimately no substitute for good parenting and or simply moving the family computer into your living room.

UPDATE 7:32am

Comments from the Open Rights Group UK.



UPDATE 4:16pm

Added a comment from the ISPA to the articles main text above.