14 DAY TRIAL // The UK is about to get a tough new policy on adult content online. At least that's what Prime Minister David Cameron is expected to say later today, according to pretty much the entire British press, starting with the Daily Mail who is taking full credit for the changes.
The tabloid has been running a campaign to get the government to "do something" about child abuse imagery and videos found online and about adult content in general.
But the prime minister will say that this isn't just a political move, he deeply believes that "depraved and disgusting" content is a menace to his children. And he believes that the answer to that menace is to force ISPs to ask their customers to "opt out" of filters that would restrict access to any adult content online.
The filters would be "enabled" by default, i.e. new subscribers would have to explicitly state that they do not want the filters in order to get them disabled. ISPs will also start asking existing customers the same question over the coming months. The idea is to have anyone who wants free access to the web ask for it.
But the ISPs have been complaining about the plans, arguing that it will make parents complacent, by giving them a false sense of security, and that they will be inundated with requests to disable the filters by the people who didn't realize what they were agreeing to.
The filters aren't the only thing on the menu; the Prime Minister is also believed to ask Internet companies, such as Google or Microsoft, to take tougher actions. This, despite the fact that both companies, and all others targeted, already have in place search and content filters that parents can use.
It gets worse as, according to some leaked documents, at least some ISPs won't even implement a "default on" filter and rather ask people if they want to opt into filtering. But the Prime Minister will choose to ignore that and portray the options as "opt out."