Automatic bar on net porn considered in UK + Poll: Will this reduce or incease sex crimes?

… Ministers are suggesting that people should automatically be barred from accessing unsuitable adult material unless they actually choose to view it. …  Websites promoting suicide, anorexia and self-harm are also being targeted. The discussion paper asks for views on three broad options for the best approach to keeping children safe online, in a rapidly changing digital industry.Conservative MP Claire Perry has pushed for restrictions to go further, so that each internet service provider automatically blocks “harmful content” and users have to contact the company to reverse this.

The government has already proposed a system called “active choice”, where new customers are asked whether they want open access to all content. The latest system, called “active choice-plus”, is aimed at reaching a compromise. It would automatically block adult content, but would set users a question, along the lines of whether they want to change this to gain access to sites promoting pornography, violence and other adult-only themes.

This is partly based on “Nudge” theory, a US concept which states that persuasion, rather than enforcement, can be an effective way of changing behaviour. Downing Street has set up a unit to explore such ideas. …

via BBC News – Automatic bar on net porn considered.

Just days after a UK high court ruling that forced British ISPs to block access to file sharing site The Pirate Bay, UK lawmakers are now considering blocking access to pornography websites.

If a law is passed, the UK would join the ranks of China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and other countries that block their citizens’ access to pornographic websites.

A source at Downing Street told The Times of London that Prime Minister David Cameron is planning to investigate possible laws for internet porn. The ban would act as a default ISP block with users having to “opt in” to have their ISPs allow access.

via GlobalPost

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