Internet pornography is now banned in the U.K. by default. Users will now have to tell their Internet service providers if they still want access to porn sites.
The news was broken by Prime Minister David Cameron himself, who announced the new measures in a press conference. During the conference, he said pornography is “corroding childhood,” reports The Independent. Cameron added that by the end of 2014, service providers will tell households that they have to pick “family friendly filters” that will block all pornography, unless the subscribers say otherwise.
According to The Telegraph, this is all part of a wider government initiative to keep children from accessing pornography and making sure that child pornography is stopped. Six companies providing Internet access for cafes have already agreed to block legal porn so children can’t see it in public. This new “family friendly wi-fi” will start by the end of next month.
“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,” Cameron said Monday. “I feel profoundly as a politician, and as a father, that the time for action has come. My argument is that the internet is not a side-line to 'real life’ or an escape from 'real life’; it is real life. It has an impact: on the children who view things that harm them, on the vile images of abuse that pollute minds and cause crime, on the very values that underpin our society.”
The Guardian reports that other parts of Cameron’s plan includes outlawing “extreme pornography,” which has scenes of simulated rape; having the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre create a list of search terms that will be used to prevent pedophiles from accessing illegal porn; and has police departments keep child porn files to “close the net on paedophiles.”
Cameron also spoke with the BBC, saying that he fully expects to fight with service providers. During his speech, he said they were “not doing enough to take responsibility,” despite having a “moral duty.”
image: Wikimedia Commons
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