The filters have been introduced by internet service providers (ISPs) following a range of measures championed by David Cameron last year to stop online pornography “corroding childhood”. Customers buying new interne connections are asked whether or not they want to filter content.
The new tool – named ‘Blocked’ - has checked which of the 100,000 most-visited websites have been blocked by the ‘big four’ ISPs (BT, Virgin, Sky and TalkTalk) and various mobile networks, finding that 19 per cent of the sites tested had been blocked.
Pam Cowburn of the Open Rights Group told The Independent that this figure was disproportionately high, especially compared with estimates for the percentage of sites hosting legal pornographic material online – thought to be around four per cent.
“These filters are overblocking a lot of sites,” said Ms Cowburn. “What we’ve found as well is that there seems to be quite a difference between different ISPs.”
Source; Independent
Open Rights Group
“Please share the URL www.blocked.org.uk as widely as you can so that we can monitor the impact of web filters." via Open Rights Group
The Blocked! website lets you check whether a site has been blocked by these filters. The tool is free but you can support the project by joining ORG, making a donation or becoming a technical volunteer.
www.blocked.org.uk/
