[TechDirt] UK’s Web Filters Blocking Nearly One-Fifth Of The World’s Most Popular Websites

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Remember UK Prime Minister David Cameron’s China Lite® web blockade, the one that was set up to keep British children from stumbling across Internet Pornography™ and other assorted subjectively objectionable material? While being ostensibly « for the children, » the default settings (applied by ISPs at the request of the Foster State) are blocking a whole lot of non-porn. […]

So, while the UK works hard to keep porn and piracy blocked, the blocking of actual technical threats (malware, phishing, etc.) to users’ devices still remains completely optional and, in most cases, unimplemented. Compliance with the government’s wishes has basically disappeared a full fifth of the most popular sites on the internet, of which pornography only contributes 4% of the total. […]

One of the other problematic aspects is that the filtering system is actively being made worse in order to service a few choice industries. Adding corporate pressure to an already terrible idea is a recipe for full-blown disaster. […]

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140702/22000227768/uks-web-filters-blocking-nearly-one-fifth-worlds-most-popular-websites.shtml