4 ms·

Blocking child porn is not optional in the UK. There is a mandatory block list which all ISPs are required to use, maintained by a private organization - the O

Blocking child porn is not optional in the UK. There is a mandatory block list which all ISPs are required to use, maintained by a private organization - the Orwellian named "Internet Watch Foundation", which is kept secret and is not disclosed for the stated reason that giving details would tell paedophiles where to look. They were responsible for the classification of the German band Scorpions album cover on Wikipedia being classed as child porn and resulting in blocking the Wikipedia page in the UK until that was sorted out. (Dec 7 2008)

dingaling 7y ago
That is not correct. The majority of big UK ISPs subscribe to the IWF lists but that's a self-regulatory choice. Many smaller ISPs don't and some even advertise that as an advantage.
stordoff 7y ago
A&A: > We don't provide a filtering service to restrict or limit access to anything on the Internet. When you take services from us you are opting out of any filtering services. The Internet has a lot of good and useful things, but it also has a lot of unpleasant and offensive things. Don't blame us for what you find on the Internet.[...] > We do not have, in our network, any equipment installed to filter access to any part of the public Internet for our customers as a whole. We aim to give 12 months notice if we ever add any such filtering. https://www.aa.net.uk/legal/full-terms-services/ https://www.aa.net.uk/legal/full-terms-services/ In the past, they've spoken out more explicitly against the IWF: > Not using IWF watch list > The system deployed now is not effective. It blocks web sites that have been reported, and that is all. It causes side effects (see recent wikipedia incident). It does not block ftp access, email, secure web sites, usenet, irc, peer to peer file sharing, or any tunnelled IP to proxies outside the UK, or indeed any number or simple ways around it. The system does not even try to.[...] > We feel sure anyone wanting access to child porn will have no trouble using the 95% of ISPs that use the IWF and there is no reason for them to come to us specially.[...] > At the end of the day, we are no more of a policeman than a power company powering a counterfeit printing press. We provide a utility - we shift IP packets. Using us for anything illegal is a matter for the police to deal with and the criminals concerned, and not for those companies that provide power, water, gas, or internet that happen to allow those activities. https://web.archive.org/web/20130430120759/https://www.aa.net.uk/news-censorship.html https://web.archive.org/web/20130430120759/https://www.aa.ne...

dingaling 7y ago

That is not correct. The majority of big UK ISPs subscribe to the IWF lists but that's a self-regulatory choice. Many smaller ISPs don't and some even advertise that as an advantage.

stordoff 7y ago

A&A: > We don't provide a filtering service to restrict or limit access to anything on the Internet. When you take services from us you are opting out of any filtering services. The Internet has a lot of good and useful things, but it also has a lot of unpleasant and offensive things. Don't blame us for what you find on the Internet.[...] > We do not have, in our network, any equipment installed to filter access to any part of the public Internet for our customers as a whole. We aim to give 12 months notice if we ever add any such filtering. https://www.aa.net.uk/legal/full-terms-services/ https://www.aa.net.uk/legal/full-terms-services/ In the past, they've spoken out more explicitly against the IWF: > Not using IWF watch list > The system deployed now is not effective. It blocks web sites that have been reported, and that is all. It causes side effects (see recent wikipedia incident). It does not block ftp access, email, secure web sites, usenet, irc, peer to peer file sharing, or any tunnelled IP to proxies outside the UK, or indeed any number or simple ways around it. The system does not even try to.[...] > We feel sure anyone wanting access to child porn will have no trouble using the 95% of ISPs that use the IWF and there is no reason for them to come to us specially.[...] > At the end of the day, we are no more of a policeman than a power company powering a counterfeit printing press. We provide a utility - we shift IP packets. Using us for anything illegal is a matter for the police to deal with and the criminals concerned, and not for those companies that provide power, water, gas, or internet that happen to allow those activities. https://web.archive.org/web/20130430120759/https://www.aa.net.uk/news-censorship.html https://web.archive.org/web/20130430120759/https://www.aa.ne...