Britain’s Cameron to announce crackdown on internet porn

22 Jul 2013

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In sweeping measures against pornography, UK Prime Minister David Cameron is expected to announce today that households in Britain connected to the internet will be obliged to declare whether they want to maintain access to online pornography.

In the most dramatic step by the government to crack down on the "corroding" influence of pornography on childhood, the prime minister will say that all internet users will be contacted by their service providers and given an "unavoidable choice" on whether to use filters.

A joint British and American ''task force'' will be created to tackle obscene websites, while Google and other search engine providers will be required to draw up a ''blacklist'' of the most depraved and illegal search terms, the Prime Minister will announce.

The initiatives will also include new measures to stop children accidentally stumbling across explicit but legal pornographic images in public places. The six biggest companies providing access to wireless internet in cafés and railway stations have all signed a deal to block legal pornography where children could view it.

The roll-out of ''family friendly Wi-Fi'' is expected to begin from the end of August. By the end of this year, customers who set up new broadband accounts or switch providers would have to actively disable the porn filters if they want continued access.

The moves follow concern that hardcore and violent images are damaging children's lives while access to illegal child pornography has been linked to high-profile crimes.

The moves will be announced by the prime minister in a speech to the NSPCC in which he will unveil a series of measures to reduce access to pornography with a particular focus on illegal child pornography. He will say:

  • The possession of "extreme pornography", which includes scenes of simulated rape, is to be outlawed.
  • The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) will draw up a blacklist of "abhorrent" internet search terms to identify and prevent paedophiles searching for illegal material.
  • All police forces will work with a single secure database of illegal images of children to help "close the net on paedophiles".
  • More power will be given for the police and the Child Exploitation and Online Protection centre to investigate the ''hidden'' parts of the internet where paedophiles share illegal images among themselves.

The prime minister's speech is designed to answer critics who accuse him of talking tough but failing to take action. In the most significant step he will outline detailed plans to limit access to pornography.

The Rape Crisis group welcomed the announcement by the prime minister, who will also say that the government is to legislate to ensure that videos streamed online are subject to the same rules as those sold in shops.

In some of his toughest language against the world's largest internet providers, the prime minister will warn them they face a duty to block "sick" people searching for illegal sites online. "I have a very clear message for Google, Bing, Yahoo and the rest. You have a duty to act on this – and it is a moral duty. If there are technical obstacles to acting on (search engines), don't just stand by and say nothing can be done; use your great brains to help overcome them.

"You're the people who have worked out how to map almost every inch of the Earth from space; who have developed algorithms that make sense of vast quantities of information. Set your greatest brains to work on this. You are not separate from our society, you are part of our society, and you must play a responsible role in it."

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