7 in 10 Sky internet users block out porn
Now rival providers face pressure to follow suit
ALMOST three-quarters of Sky’s internet customers have opted to block online pornographic websites after being forced to choose. The company announced an automatic block on harmful sites six months ago in a bid to prevent children from stumbling across hardcore images and videos.
Under the system, users must opt out of the default familyfriendly filter in order to access adult material. Now Sky says it has finished rolling out the technology to its 5million customers.
Seven in ten homes that were forced to choose have kept the filters, in a victory for online safety campaigners and the Daily Mail’s Block Online Porn campaign. The figure compares with just 5per cent who voluntarily set up a blocker when emailed that the service was available, Sky said.
The announcement will heap pressure on rivals BT, TalkTalk and Virgin to introduce similar measures. Sky has a fifth of the UK’s broadband market of 25million consumers.
In 2013 David Cameron warned that easy access to web porn was ‘ corroding childhood’, and reached a deal with internet providers to make it easier for parent to impose filters.
Sky’s system was the first one that blocked harmful websites automatically. The firm’s director Lyssa McGowan said: ‘We’re proud of the approach we took to ensure that millions more people are safer online.’
Online safety campaigners last night welcomed the move. John Carr, government adviser on internet safety and director of The UK Council for Child Internet Safety, said: ‘We always knew and said that parents wanted this kind of help, and these numbers prove it.’
Will Gardner, of children’s online protection charity Child- Net International, said: ‘This opt-out approach is a good recommendation for parents, because it forces them to make a choice. It’s not a solution to the problem but it does reduce the chances of accidental exposure to content that can be incredibly harmful to children.’
BT, the largest provider with 10million internet customers, said it finished contacting all of them about its new porn blocker in January.
Anyone who ignored its prompts will be unable to access the internet until they make a choice – but it does not automatically turn on the filter. A spokesman added: ‘BT takes the issue of online safety extremely seriously.’ TalkTalk, which has 4million broadband customers, said 95per cent had been contacted about its HomeSafe filter, which is activated automatically.
Under the system, customers wanting to access a website that would be blocked under the filter have to choose to opt out of the content blocker.
A spokesman said: ‘Since 2012, all new customers have had to make an active choice about whether to switch on HomeSafe when they join us, and 36 per cent of customers opt in – about the same proportion of the number of UK households with children.’
Virgin Media, with 4.5million customers, has previously refused to adopt automatic blocks. No one from the company was available to comment.
The NSPCC said: ‘ Making sure children are safe online shouldn’t be left to chance. Anyone who signs up to an internet provider should be offered an unavoidable choice about installing parental controls.’