The Problem with New UK Porn Filters

Internet porn filters in the UK aren't just hiding MILFs and barely-legal blondes. It seems the government-mandated porn filters are also blocking out health and sex education websites, too. Good work, guys! Surely the British citizens don't need information about silly things like sexual health and birth control. The important thing is that teenagers will have to work a little harder to see boobies, right? Right?

Geezus, what a clusterfuck. I really can't believe that the British government is requiring its major internet service providers to block porn websites as the default. The edict, which came from UK Prime Minister David Cameron in July, was designed to prevent children from exposure to "corroding influences." Adults can choose to opt-out of the porn block on personal computers, but they have to contact their ISP to have the filter removed. Awkward.

The UK's four big internet companies began rolling out the porn filters recently. But according to a BBC investigation, things aren't going quite as planned. Some of the filters have been blocking sites such as Sexual Health Scotland, Doncaster Domestic Abuse Helpline, and the Edinburgh Women's Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre. These websites and others like them were labeled as "pornographic" by the automatic filters.

But at least they're keeping out that porn, right? Not really. The BBC discovered that the filters aren't actually doing so hot at blocking hardcore porn-hosting sites. One of the Cameron-endorsed porn filters, from ISP Talk Talk, failed to block 7 percent of the 68 porn sites the BBC tested. Justin Hancock, who runs BishUK — an award-winning sexual health site that's been blocked by the new porn filters — told the BBC it was "really frustrating" to try to provide sex education to young people and get blocked as inappropriate.

"They might fix my site in the short-term but what about all the other sites that are out there for young people, not just sex education sites," Hancock said. "Who are TalkTalk to say what is allowed and isn't?" Good question.