Government porn plan experiences backlash

Opt-in policy for online porn has not gone down well with ISPs

The government's plans to create an opt-in policy for accessing porn web sites is likely to meet stiff resitance from ISPs.

Communications minister Ed Vaizey told the Sunday Times last weekend that he wants to implement a blanket block of pornographic material "to protect children".

Under the scheme, consumers would opt in via their ISP to access porn if they wish.

Vaizey has called for a meeting with BT, Virgin Media and TalkTalk to discuss the issue, but a date for that meeting has yet to be set.

However, delegating responsibility for policing porn to ISPs isn't sitting well with the industry.

Nicholas Lansman, the secretary general of the Internet Service Providers Association (ISPA), has been one of the first to speak out.

"ISPA firmly believes that the controls on the access of children to the internet should be managed by parents and carers with the tools provided by some ISPs, rather than being imposed top-down," said Lansman in a statement.

"Child abuse content is blocked by many ISPs as it is illegal and widely regarded as abhorrent. Deciding on lawful pornography content to block is less clear cut and will lead to the blocking of legitimate content," he added.

Independent ISP Zen Internet expressed similar concerns to Computing, and questions the practicalities of such regulation.

"Services that block certain types of content within the network are technically feasible but we don't feel this is the best approach to online safety," said Andrew Saunders, head of product management and marketing at Zen Internet.

"These government proposals are lacking in detail, but no matter how well intended there is real concern that this is the start of internet censorship and what will be next? There is also the practical issue of determining what constitutes porn, who makes that judgement and how?" he added.

"Generally we are strongly in favour of self regulation of the internet with government regulation and legislation being kept to an absolute minimum."