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发帖数: 1034 | 1 By James Plafke Jul. 23, 2014 1:51 pm
Porn pirates
It wasn’t too long ago when the UK government began thinking about
requiring its citizens to opt into viewing porn with their service providers
, in an effort to protect children from online pornography. The filter
program was announced in July of 2013, and was actually implemented toward
the end of 2013 and beginning of 2014. Perhaps the government thought this
would be some kind of clever trick to dissuade the country from viewing
pornography rather than just children, as people would have to actively tell
their ISP that they want the ability to view porn. Well, it seems UK
citizens aren’t too ashamed about their porn habits.
A new internet safety report from Ofcom detailing network filters has
revealed that the majority of the United Kingdom has opted into being able
to view pornography online. Only very small percentages of UK ISP customers
have opted to use porn filters; 4% of Virgin Media customers, 5% of BT, and
8% of Sky. However, the numbers only tally new customers that are offered
the choice of the filters during account activation, and don’t make note of
customers who may decide to turn on the filters at a later date. Ofcom
found that around 42% of internet-enabled homes already had broadband
filters, so perhaps customers simply didn’t want to double down on internet
censorship.
According to a tracking tool, nearly one in five websites are being blocked
due to the filters. They extend to more than just pornography, including
other potentially sensitive subjects, like violence, hate crimes, suicide,
gambling, and drug use. Each of the UK’s largest four ISPs — BT, Virgin,
TalkTalk, and Sky — handle the categories differently; BT blocks every
single one, while Virgin Media blocks less than half.
Generally, good parenting is a fine alternative to hard censorship, but hey,
sometimes good parents can’t prevent what their kids accidentally stumble
upon. |
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