Lords block call for smaller ISPs to introduce filters

[Simon]

An attempt to force smaller ISPs to introduce parental-control filters has been blocked in the House of Lords.

Baroness Howe introduced an amendment to the Children and Families Bill this week that would have made parental control filters a legal requirement for all UK ISPs.

The four major providers - Virgin, TalkTalk, BT and Sky - have all agreed to introduce filters voluntarily, but smaller ISPs have not been included.

According to Baroness Howe, the current filters don't go far enough.

"[While] welcome as a first step, self-regulation will not be anything other than a short-term solution - and that regulation should now be placed on a robust statutory footing," she said.

She added that ISPs needed stronger age-verification mechanisms to ensure tech-savvy children didn't simply switch off the filters themselves - and that smaller providers ought to be included.

"Although the big four ISPs have a self-regulatory code that provides for default filters, this still leaves between 5% and 10% of the market—well over one million households, and therefore hundreds of thousands of children — unprotected," she said.

Howe pointed to Andrews and Arnold, an ISP which has said it will offer "unfiltered" access to the internet regardless of government pressure.

"If we had a statutory approach to default filters, as set out in my amendment, all ISPs, including all those that service the remaining 5% to 10% not covered by the big four code, would have to introduce default filters," she said.

The amendment won't make its way into law, however, since peers overwhelmingly voted against the the proposals.

Read more: http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/security/386812/lords-block-call-for-smaller-isps-to-introduce-filters#ixzz2s77MlHJ8

[kinmel]

A&A clearly state that if you want a filtered connection then you should use another ISP, so that is no different than being able to turn the filter off at a big ISP.

The real long term aim of legislation is to gradually create a fully regulated internet for the U.K.  No doubt the proposals will appear again.

[Gary]

IDnet said they would follow the letter of the law if it came into force for them I believe. From what I have read Cameron realises this is not going to work well this time round but is aiming to push it again with stricter legislation if they win the next election.

[Simon]

Despite A&A's claims, I don't see how they could avoid complying with legislation, should it be enforced at a later stage.

[Gary]

Despite A&A's claims, I don't see how they could avoid complying with legislation, should it be enforced at a later stage.

I cant see either, Simon. More AAISP bravado I think.

[JB]

If this had become law it would have been the thin end of the wedge. Next would have been torrent and other 'pirate' sites. 

And then after all that, what would come next? We are snooped on enough as it is. Big brother has gone far enough.

[pctech]

Agreed JB

Not really a fan of the unelected second chamber but for this they ought to be applauded.

P2P is a menace because of the strain it puts on networks but big media needs to look at the underlying causes of piracy and those are:

1. For better or worse, folks want to see what is being shown in the States which might not see the light of day here for years, if at all so why not let Lovefilm or Netlfix carry it and take a slice?
2. Much like there being shoplifters there will always be those that steal music but true music fans will always pay if they knew the artist was getting paid a decent amount for their work and the price was lower for stuff like albums on CD, where I can I tend to buy directly from the independent labels I listen to even if I have to order from retailers in the Netherlands or Germany because I want the artist to get more of a slice of the revenue for their hard work.

Back to the topic, network management should be down to the ISP and content control should be down to the parents.

[kinmel]

Despite A&A's claims, I don't see how they could avoid complying with legislation, should it be enforced at a later stage.

I quite agree, but she was using A&A as an example of an ISP who will only install a filter by legal coercion, but even if A&A were forced to provide a filter users could still turn it off. 

This Plan was to require all ISPs to provide a filter with the intention that eventually "the people will have to be protected from themselves" and the customer's turn-off option will be removed by law.

All modern legislation is achieved by "creep", indeed the E.U. has been created by it.