BT puts block on child porn sites

Found on Guardian on Saturday, 05 June 2004
Browse Censorship

British Telecom has taken the unprecedented step of blocking all illegal child pornography websites in a crackdown on abuse online. The decision by Britain's largest high-speed internet provider will lead to the first mass censorship of the web attempted in a Western democracy.

Known as Cleanfeed, the project has been developed in consultation with the Home Office and will go live by the end of the month, The Observer can reveal. Other major players in the internet market, such as Energis and Thus, which owns rival Demon Internet, are said to be preparing to block banned sites.

Blocking websites is highly controversial and until now has been associated only with oppressive regimes such as Saudi Arabia and China, which have censored sites associated with dissidents. But many in the field of child protection believe that the explosion of paedophile sites justifies the crackdown.

Introducing censorship like that is not easy to criticise due to the goal. However, people have to realize that this will only block access, and not stop childporn (what is by far more important). From what we have heard in the media, they are well organized; a website block doesn't impress them much. I would call it a political move: don't talk about something and it doesn't happen. The problem is that once censorship is accepted, people will tolerate the blocking of other information easier.