Online porn in the UK will be blocked by Internet service providers. Prime Minister David Cameron has announced Monday a new measure that will automatically filter porn content online unless subscribers opt to receive it.

Mr Cameron said in his speech that he aims to protect the innocence of children, and one way to do so is to limit online pornographic content in households.

“I’m not making this speech because I want to moralise or scare-monger, but because I feel profoundly as a politician, and as a father, that the time for action has come,” Mr Cameron explained, adding that the new directive is to protect the children.

While he admitted that the Internet has transformed people’s lives for the better, he also said that it can also be dangerous.

“The fact is that the growth of the Internet as an unregulated space has thrown up two major challenges when it comes to protecting our children,” the PM continued.

“The first challenge is criminal: and that is the proliferation and accessibility of child abuse images on the Internet. The second challenge is cultural: the fact that many children are viewing online pornography and other damaging material at a very young age and that the nature of that pornography is so extreme, it is distorting their view of sex and relationships.

“Let me be clear. These challenges are very distinct and very different. In one we’re talking about illegal material, the other legal material that is being viewed by those who are underage. But both these challenges have something in common.

“They are about how our collective lack of action on the Internet has led to harmful – and in some cases truly dreadful – consequences for children.”

Mr Cameron’s full speech can be read here.

All mobile phone operators in the UK have agreed to put adult content filters onto their phones automatically. This would require users who are over 18 years of age to deactivate the filters themselves by calling their operators.

The prime minister has also come to an agreement with public Wi-Fi providers, namely O2, VirginMedia, Sky, Nomad, BT and Arqiva. The companies agreed that they will provide family-friendly filters across the public Wi-Fi network wherever children are likely to be present.

As for home Internet, Mr Cameron said that the four big ISP companies (TalkTalk, Virgin, Sky, and BT) will also be applying home network filters to the homes that they service, which means nine out of ten households are affected.

The filters will automatically be turned on for both new and existing subscribers, and will cover any device connected to the home Internet account so that there will be no more hassle of downloading filters for every device. Only the adult account holder can change or remove the filters.

And in an extreme pornography law change, the PM added that he is making possession of content with pornographic portrayals of rape illegal. While it’s only illegal to public such content before, he is now including possession of these materials illegal as well.

“Put simply – what you can’t get in a shop, you will no longer be able to get online.”

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