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My understanding is that this is already the case for mobile phone networks here in the UK. I remember having to phone up my mobile phone provider (T-Mobile, or

My understanding is that this is already the case for mobile phone networks here in the UK. I remember having to phone up my mobile phone provider (T-Mobile, or maybe it was O2 at the time?) to ask them to remove the adult content lock because it was incorrectly blocking access to some tech news site I was trying to read. POS. I don't know if this is government mandated or just interfering mobile networks.

drpancake 15y ago
Vodafone do this too. I believe legally they must provide an opt-in filter; although I'm guessing for historical reasons they seem to always be opt-out.
mattmanser 15y ago
I'm with o2, never been blocked viewing anything. Is there a possibility you're talking about the open wifi spots? The ones near me are invariably slower than 3G so I've turned BTOpenZone off. Not that I regularly view porn out and about, but I'd assume that I'd hit the block at some point. EDIT: There is one, bizarre, never knew that: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2134659/Phone-firms-block-porn-web-giants-Internet-providers-technology-install-opt-filters.html http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2134659/Phone-firms-... I obviously need to start viewing more porn sites out and about or something to express my freedoms!
- pja 15y ago
  O2 certainly had an adult filter on their 3G data by default in 2011[1]. It was very annoying because it was so indiscriminate - anything that could be used as a proxy was blocked (like Google Translate) for instance. Turning it off required giving them your drivers licence number as I recall. [1]http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2011-03/04/o2-mobile-web-filtering http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2011-03/04/o2-mobile-web...
- mike-cardwell 15y ago
  FWIW, I'm definitely talking about 3G access and not open wifi spots.
corin_ 15y ago
That was back in the days when mobile internet meant WAP with services provided by your own network, i.e. the blocks were for adult content that O2 (and other networks) were themselves providing/selling. So yes, it was caused by the same law that prevents children from buying adult magazines or subscribing to porn websites - though likely the networks could have got away with less had they wanted to (such as the "If you are under 18, leave now" messages most porn sites now offer).
- mike-cardwell 15y ago
  No, I'm talking much more recent.
  - corin_ 15y ago
    Oops, your "at the time" made me assume it was a while ago... in that case I've no idea, never had any issues with Orange or Vodafone since the WAP days.
viraptor 15y ago
It's not an "adult content lock" for vodafone. It's actually called "content control"... I commented about it before, but I have no idea how they decide what to filter and what to pass. I kept running into blocked blogs and random programming pages, but when I tried to browse a random selection of porn sites, they were all allowed. Additionally, noone even tried to check my age when I wanted to unblock it (well - they can't, can they?). Standard phone verification of access to the account (address, date of birth, everything that the whole family knows) was all it took.

drpancake 15y ago

Vodafone do this too. I believe legally they must provide an opt-in filter; although I'm guessing for historical reasons they seem to always be opt-out.

mattmanser 15y ago

I'm with o2, never been blocked viewing anything. Is there a possibility you're talking about the open wifi spots? The ones near me are invariably slower than 3G so I've turned BTOpenZone off. Not that I regularly view porn out and about, but I'd assume that I'd hit the block at some point. EDIT: There is one, bizarre, never knew that: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2134659/Phone-firms-block-porn-web-giants-Internet-providers-technology-install-opt-filters.html http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2134659/Phone-firms-... I obviously need to start viewing more porn sites out and about or something to express my freedoms!

pja 15y ago
O2 certainly had an adult filter on their 3G data by default in 2011[1]. It was very annoying because it was so indiscriminate - anything that could be used as a proxy was blocked (like Google Translate) for instance. Turning it off required giving them your drivers licence number as I recall. [1]http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2011-03/04/o2-mobile-web-filtering http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2011-03/04/o2-mobile-web...
mike-cardwell 15y ago
FWIW, I'm definitely talking about 3G access and not open wifi spots.

corin_ 15y ago

That was back in the days when mobile internet meant WAP with services provided by your own network, i.e. the blocks were for adult content that O2 (and other networks) were themselves providing/selling. So yes, it was caused by the same law that prevents children from buying adult magazines or subscribing to porn websites - though likely the networks could have got away with less had they wanted to (such as the "If you are under 18, leave now" messages most porn sites now offer).

mike-cardwell 15y ago
No, I'm talking much more recent.
- corin_ 15y ago
  Oops, your "at the time" made me assume it was a while ago... in that case I've no idea, never had any issues with Orange or Vodafone since the WAP days.

viraptor 15y ago

It's not an "adult content lock" for vodafone. It's actually called "content control"... I commented about it before, but I have no idea how they decide what to filter and what to pass. I kept running into blocked blogs and random programming pages, but when I tried to browse a random selection of porn sites, they were all allowed. Additionally, noone even tried to check my age when I wanted to unblock it (well - they can't, can they?). Standard phone verification of access to the account (address, date of birth, everything that the whole family knows) was all it took.