BT WEB BLOCKING WORRIES ISPs, CIVIL LIBERTIES GROUPS
In a move one news report characterized as the first mass Web censorship attempted by a Western democracy, British Telecom (BT) over the weekend said it will begin shutting off retail subscriber’s access to child pornography sites this month. The project -- which BT internally calls “Cleanfeed” but whose name is subject to change -- is a pilot that will last “a few weeks,” a BT spokesman told us. Subscribers to services such as BTYahoo and BTInternet who try to access illegal sites will get an error message, the spokesman said. The telco will be able to register the number of times someone visits a site, but not details about visitors, he said. BT’s announcement sparked concern Mon. from other ISPs and civil rights advocates.
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BT is acting for legal not moral reasons, the spokesman said. The list of illegal child pornography sites was compiled from “reports and clues received” by the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), said IWF Chief Exec. Peter Robbins. The watchdog’s database has been available to IWF members since 2002, he said, and the IWF has worked with the govt. to figure out how ISPs could use it to prevent Britons from inadvertently accessing porn sites or committing criminal offenses.
Cleanfeed is said to be the work of John Carr, now Internet advisor to U.K. children’s charity NCH, and a former IWF board member. According to The Observer, Carr approached the Home Office about a campaign against pedophile sites and the govt. then sought help from ISPs, said at first to be “resistant.” But the BT spokesman said his company approached the Home Office, not vice versa.
Other ISPs are considering similar programs. Energis has been consulting with the Home Office on blocking access to child pornography sites since late 2003, a spokeswoman said. “We are participating in an industrywide initiative,” in association with govt. and the IWF, to review technology to help bar access to such material, she said. Energis is also working with U.K. and foreign law enforcement agencies to control access to the content, the spokeswoman said.
But the U.K. Internet Service Providers’ Assn. (ISPA UK) said Mon. the Cleanfeed trial will stop only “casual” browsing of known illegal sites. It won’t hinder organized distribution of such images, bar access to new Web sites offering illegal content, or prevent children from being abused, ISPA UK said. The ISP group emphasized its “zero tolerance” of illegal child abuse content, saying it helped establish and is a permanent member of IWF, and ISPs’ self- regulatory notice-and-takedown procedure “has produced exceptional results in removing illegal images from the U.K. Internet.” Moreover, ISPA UK said, a recent survey (WID May 19 p4) showed many Netizens are unaware of their own responsibilities for unlawful content.
BT isn’t “pretending this is a total solution” to the problem of online child pornography, the spokesman said, because someone will always find ways around it. But the company is trying to build momentum, he said. The offending sites are pay-per-view, and BT hopes Cleanfeed will at least impede their growth.