The UK government is planning to force Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to block content that promotes extremism. It might also establish a special unit to identify such content.
The crime and security minister James Brokenshire said the new measures to combat dissemination of dangerous ideas will be announced shortly, reports the Guardian. The initiative has been criticised by both broadband companies and freedom of speech campaigners, who see it as a slippery slope towards state censorship.
First it was websites found guilty of copyright infringement, then adult, violent and child abuse content. Now it looks like the British ISPs will have another thing to worry about – websites promoting extremism and terrorism.
According to the industry sources quoted by the Guardian, the government is planning to establish a new public sector organisation dedicated to compiling blacklists and forwarding them to major ISPs including BT, TalkTalk, BSkyB, Orange and Virgin Media.
“This is yet more gesture politics,” said Jim Killock, executive director of the Open Rights Group. “Brokenshire risks handing terrorists new propaganda victories as they look more effective than they are and can also claim to be victimised. Meanwhile, web blocks are at best a kind of net curtain that can be trivially evaded by those seeking the content.
“At the minimum, the government must get a court order, and use the law. But they appear to be proposing to make up lists and tell companies to take action on the say-so of police officers or bureaucrats. That would be unacceptable by any measure.”
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Blocking IP/web address is wrong and a slippery slope to the removal of freedom and democracy and ironically exactly what they purporting to be protecting.
There must always be a court order involved - it's the most fundamental principle of balance within a society against the excesses of the politicians (of any persuasion).
From a practical aspect it's better to know who the bad guys are rather than let them slip unseen into the murky waters of the black internet whether that be child abuse or terrorism. If you know who they are you can take them out - simple!
As with any powers acquired by government this will become overused and is a short slippery slope to uncontrolled censorship. I wonder if these powers existed currently whether the guardian would suddenly have become an extremist website for their publication of the snowden revelations?