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by johneth 5148 days ago
This is a dangerous precedent to set. I have a (very bad) feeling that once TalkTalk has done this, other ISPs will start to. Soon it will become 'the norm'. This sort of system, once in place, will end up being abused and used for blocking other things. I know it's trivial for those who know to bypass, but that's not the point.

It's being pushed not by ISPs, but by out-of-touch-with-technology politicians (the absolutely useless Conservative MP Claire Perry and others), the Daily Mail and other tabloids, and useless parents who don't want to parent and don't understand that you can block things with software on a computer.
2 comments
FuzzyDunlop 5147 days ago
It's totally backwards thinking. "We must save the children from porn and bad things!" say the politicians and tabloid rags like the Daily Mail (while at the same time publishing pictures of scantily clad women). "We must block it so they cannot be accessed!"

The correct way of thinking is, "what can we do to educate parents about the internet, and the responsible usage of it?" If their kids start downloading porn in their teens, so be it. Kids always find ways to look at that sort of stuff when they hit puberty.

And while sensational, this sort of info (account has porn enabled) can easily be used by the UK's dreadful tabloid press quite to your disadvantage. Like the spy Gareth Williams, who had his S&M proclivities (discovered through looking at the sites he visited) used to discredit him as some crazy bondage afficionado. Imagine being accused of paedophilia and having an ISP confirm that, yes, this guy does have porn enabled on his account.

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samstokes 5147 days ago
It sounds like TalkTalk is actually one of the last ISPs to do this, not the first:

In October, major internet suppliers including BT and Virgin said they have decided to change procedures to that when new customers sign up they will not be able to progress with accessing content until they decide whether to activate parental control over content. Previously the decision about whether to control adult content was made at any point after the sign up, when adult content may have already been accessed.

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