R. Richard
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Online pornography to be blocked by default, PM announces
David Cameron: "In the balance between freedom and responsibility we have neglected our responsibility to children"
Most households in the UK will have pornography blocked by their internet provider unless they choose to receive it, David Cameron has announced.
In addition, the prime minister said possessing online pornography depicting rape would become illegal in England and Wales - in line with Scotland.
Mr Cameron warned in a speech that access to online pornography was "corroding childhood".
The new measures will apply to both existing and new customers.
Seven years ago David Cameron told a Google conference that politicians should encourage companies to change, not over-regulate them.
Today, he announced he had reached agreement with the four biggest ISPs on pornography filters, after some behind the scenes tussling.
But he hinted that if search engines like Google didn't agree to a blacklist of search terms, he would legislate.
From Downing St, he can supplement the art of persuasion with the smack of firm government.
Back in his opposition days, Cameron made waves presenting himself as a man on the side of parents against firms that sold chocolates at checkouts and children's bras.
If he can mould a similar image in Downing St, as a PM doing battle with big business on behalf of fellow parents, he will be more than happy.
Mr Cameron also called for some "horrific" internet search terms to be "blacklisted", meaning they would automatically bring up no results on websites such as Google or Bing.
He told the BBC he expected a "row" with service providers who, he said in his speech, were "not doing enough to take responsibility" despite having a "moral duty" to do so.
He also warned he could have to "force action" by changing the law and that, if there were "technical obstacles", firms should use their "greatest brains" to overcome them.
'Innocence'
In his speech, Mr Cameron said family-friendly filters would be automatically selected for all new customers by the end of the year - although they could choose to switch them off.
And millions of existing computer users would be contacted by their internet providers and told they must decide whether to use or not use "family-friendly filters" to restrict adult material.
The filters would apply to all devices linked to the affected home Wi-Fi network and across the public Wi-Fi network "wherever children are likely to be present".
Customers who do not click on either option - accepting or declining - will have filters activated by default, Tory MP Claire Perry, Mr Cameron's adviser on the sexualisation and commercialisation of childhood, told the BBC.
The UK's biggest internet service providers have agreed to the filters scheme meaning it should cover 95% of homes.
Other measures announced by the prime minister included:
New laws so videos streamed online in the UK will be subject to the same restrictions as those sold in shops
Search engines having until October to introduce further measures to block illegal content
Experts from the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre being given more powers to examine secretive file-sharing networks
A secure database of banned child porn images gathered by police across the country will be used to trace illegal content and the paedophiles viewing it
Mr Cameron also called for warning pages to pop up with helpline numbers when people try to search for illegal content.
He said: "I want to talk about the internet, the impact it is having on the innocence of our children, how online pornography is corroding childhood.
"And how, in the darkest corners of the internet, there are things going on that are a direct danger to our children, and that must be stamped out.
"I'm not making this speech because I want to moralise or scaremonger, but because I feel profoundly as a politician, and as a father, that the time for action has come. This is, quite simply, about how we protect our children and their innocence."
But former Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre boss Jim Gamble told BBC Radio 4's Today programme it was important to "get to the root cause" of illegal pornography, by catching those responsible for creating it.
David Cameron: "In the balance between freedom and responsibility we have neglected our responsibility to children"
Most households in the UK will have pornography blocked by their internet provider unless they choose to receive it, David Cameron has announced.
In addition, the prime minister said possessing online pornography depicting rape would become illegal in England and Wales - in line with Scotland.
Mr Cameron warned in a speech that access to online pornography was "corroding childhood".
The new measures will apply to both existing and new customers.
Seven years ago David Cameron told a Google conference that politicians should encourage companies to change, not over-regulate them.
Today, he announced he had reached agreement with the four biggest ISPs on pornography filters, after some behind the scenes tussling.
But he hinted that if search engines like Google didn't agree to a blacklist of search terms, he would legislate.
From Downing St, he can supplement the art of persuasion with the smack of firm government.
Back in his opposition days, Cameron made waves presenting himself as a man on the side of parents against firms that sold chocolates at checkouts and children's bras.
If he can mould a similar image in Downing St, as a PM doing battle with big business on behalf of fellow parents, he will be more than happy.
Mr Cameron also called for some "horrific" internet search terms to be "blacklisted", meaning they would automatically bring up no results on websites such as Google or Bing.
He told the BBC he expected a "row" with service providers who, he said in his speech, were "not doing enough to take responsibility" despite having a "moral duty" to do so.
He also warned he could have to "force action" by changing the law and that, if there were "technical obstacles", firms should use their "greatest brains" to overcome them.
'Innocence'
In his speech, Mr Cameron said family-friendly filters would be automatically selected for all new customers by the end of the year - although they could choose to switch them off.
And millions of existing computer users would be contacted by their internet providers and told they must decide whether to use or not use "family-friendly filters" to restrict adult material.
The filters would apply to all devices linked to the affected home Wi-Fi network and across the public Wi-Fi network "wherever children are likely to be present".
Customers who do not click on either option - accepting or declining - will have filters activated by default, Tory MP Claire Perry, Mr Cameron's adviser on the sexualisation and commercialisation of childhood, told the BBC.
The UK's biggest internet service providers have agreed to the filters scheme meaning it should cover 95% of homes.
Other measures announced by the prime minister included:
New laws so videos streamed online in the UK will be subject to the same restrictions as those sold in shops
Search engines having until October to introduce further measures to block illegal content
Experts from the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre being given more powers to examine secretive file-sharing networks
A secure database of banned child porn images gathered by police across the country will be used to trace illegal content and the paedophiles viewing it
Mr Cameron also called for warning pages to pop up with helpline numbers when people try to search for illegal content.
He said: "I want to talk about the internet, the impact it is having on the innocence of our children, how online pornography is corroding childhood.
"And how, in the darkest corners of the internet, there are things going on that are a direct danger to our children, and that must be stamped out.
"I'm not making this speech because I want to moralise or scaremonger, but because I feel profoundly as a politician, and as a father, that the time for action has come. This is, quite simply, about how we protect our children and their innocence."
But former Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre boss Jim Gamble told BBC Radio 4's Today programme it was important to "get to the root cause" of illegal pornography, by catching those responsible for creating it.
