British Prime Minister David Cameron announced a plan today under which UK Internet services will block access to pornography sites by default. To disable the filters, users would need to specifically file an opt-out request with their Internet provider.
Cameron also called on Internet services such as Google to blacklist what he called “horrific” search terms related to child abuse, and said his government will also move to criminalize the possession of pornography that depicts rape.
Of course, filtering and blacklists present some real problems that Cameron chose not to address, as Techdirt’s Tim Cushing notes:
Complying with a blacklist seems like a good idea, but there are two problems with that idea: determined people will get around the blacklist and blacklists tend to inadvertently block legitimate searches….
On top of the collateral damage, there’s the fact that filtering search engine results is going to make a lot of headlines but do very little to curb the trafficking of child pornography…. The pros don’t bother with public web sites and search engines. They go P2P and circumvent every filter put into place by government intervention.
