David Cameron, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom has officially announced that most households in the UK will have pornography blocked by their Internet provider unless they actively elect to be able to view it. In addition, possessing online pornography depicting rape would become illegal in England and Wales in order to keep in line with Scotland.
BBC UK reports in Mr. Cameron's speech he warned against accessing pornography as something that is "corroding childhood."
The new measures will reportedly apply to both existing and new customers of most major internet providers in the UK. In addition, Mr. Cameron called for some of the more "horrific" internet search terms to be "blacklisted," meaning they would automatically yield zero results on search engines such as Google or Bing.
Although the Prime Minister expects a "row" with service providers, he stands by the decision claiming they are "not doing enough to take responsibility" despite their having a "moral duty" to do so.
He even had some stern words for those who might be thinking about getting around the new restrictions. He warned he could have to "force action" by changing the law and that if there were "technical obstacles," firms would be smart to use their "greatest minds" to overcome these obstacles. One thing is clear, Cameron is in no mood to compromise when it comes to this latest announcement.
New users will be able to choose whether or not to switch off the family-friendly filters when they are put into place by the end of the year. Meanwhile, existing users will be contacted by their Internet provider in order to give them the choice to restrict or not to restrict all adult content on the Web.
"In the darkest corners of the internet, there are things going on that are a direct danger to our children, and that must be stamped out," Mr. Cameron said in his speech. "I'm not making this speech because I want to moralize or scaremonger, but because I feel profoundly as a politician, and as a father, that the time for action has come. This is, quite simply, about how we protect our children and their innocence."
