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Business internet online safety Regs

ISPA Parliamentary Advisory Forum – ISPs likely to promote opt in parental controls to block kids access to porn

Attended the ISPA Parliamentary Advisory Forum this week. The debate, sponsored by Claire Perry MP was on the subject of online child protection. The issue, as previously posted (just search for Claire on this site), is that Claire Perry wants ISPs to block access to pornographic websites by default, requiring people who want to go to these sites to opt in.

This must have been one of the most informed debates I have been to with an A-Z of stakeholders (100+ people) present ranging from what looked like the committee of the local parish church, academics, libertarians, ISPs, MPs, security technology vendors, press, child safety organisations etc etc.

Several things stuck in my mind:
Internet Minister Ed Vaizey and MP Claire Perry emphasised their position that ISPs need to do something to protect kids or they will legislate.

Many references to studies on the effect of pornography on children were made.

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Business online safety

mother knows best? – mumsnet withdraws support for Claire Perry porn blocking initiative #deappg

At the tender age of 49 I still call my mum for a chat and ask her advice on things. Usually regarding how to cook Welsh Cakes etc. Well I note today  that mumsnet, the “by parents for parents” family site seems to have withdrawn its support for the “Claire Perry porn blocking” campaign.

I can’t add much to the Malcolm Hutty post over at LINX on this subject. He also supplies some useful links.

Whilst I am not denigrating Mrs Perry’s desire to protect children mumsnet has displayed some realistic common sense and now understands the issues associated with web blocking.

The original campaign page at mumsnet is no longer available but it was still visible in the Google cache. Click on the header to see more.

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Apps End User Regs security surveillance & privacy

how to get round your school’s web filter #deappg #DEAct

Somewhat a contentious title for a post? Provocative? It is topical though with all the discussion in the media regarding the government’s review on whether web blocking really works or is cost effective (re Digital Economy Act), and also MP Claire Perry calling on ISPs to implement filtering to stop kids reaching online porn.

I just did a Goole search on “bypassing school proxy”. It came up with 847,000 results including a link to “answers.yahoo.com”. I followed one of the links and found a ton of advice on how to get around a school’s filter system. These ad-funded sites are very youth orientated. One of the posts had 198 discussion comments!

My(oft repeated)  point is that blocking ain’t going to work and anyone that naively thinks that most kids will not know how to go about circumventing a block on websites, whatever their flavour, needs to spend some time in a playground.

PS the answers.yahoo.com discussion had been deleted but most of these sites do not have the integrity or the corporate image to uphold. All most of the 847,000 sites (pages) are interested in is your money.

DEAct