UK ISP Sky has announced in a blog post yesterday that it will block pornographic content on its broadband service by default, in an effort to protect children from visiting unsuitable sites.
Going forward, Sky Broadband Shield, the company’s content permission tool, will be set to ‘on’ for all users, unless they opt out.
Once the tool is activated, those who wish to view adult content will need to log in and adjust their Sky Broadband Shield protection settings or turn it off manually in order to view filtered sites.
Users who don’t want to use Sky Broadband Shield can set their preference on the service page, and won’t receive any emails.
The move follows UK Prime Minister David Cameron’s proposals from July 2013 to filter online content. While there may indeed be good intentions behind the idea, it’s not as clear-cut as the government would have you believe. If websites are filtered by the government or ISPs without public scrutiny, it could end up curtailing freedoms of viewers and publishers alike.
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➤ Sky Broadband Shield – rolling out to all our customers [Sky Blog via BBC]
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