[IP] "Cleanfeed" - UK ISP government censorware implemented
Begin forwarded message:
From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren@xxxxxxxxxx>
Date: July 21, 2004 12:02:23 PM EDT
To: dave@xxxxxxxxxx
Cc: lauren@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [IP] "Cleanfeed" - UK ISP government censorware implemented
Dave,
A single dedicated person or small group could programmatically
trivially create 20K (or far more) hits a day on such sites,
while spreading the apparent sources of the hits very widely.
The statistics don't show if they are being generated by persons
really seeking such materials, curious surfers looking to see
if the blocks really work, or even fringe elements of dedicated
anti-porn activists purposely inflating the statistics in an
effort to advance their cause and influence.
In other words, the statistics as presented are worthless.
--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein
lauren@xxxxxxxx or lauren@xxxxxxxxxx or lauren@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
http://www.pfir.org/lauren
Co-Founder, PFIR - People For Internet Responsibility -
http://www.pfir.org
Co-Founder, Fact Squad - http://www.factsquad.org
Co-Founder, URIICA - Union for Representative International Internet
Cooperation and Analysis - http://www.uriica.org
Moderator, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com
Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
- - -
Begin forwarded message:
From: Seth Finkelstein <sethf@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: July 21, 2004 8:40:06 AM EDT
To: Dave Farber <dave@xxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: "Cleanfeed" - UK ISP government censorware implemented
[Note there is no way for anyone outside the law enforcement community
to verify or challenge the inflammatory statistics]
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/3908215.stm
Extent of child net porn revealed
BT says it is blocking up to 20,000 attempts each day to access child
porn.
Its figures provide the first firm evidence of the extent of web
paedophilia and BT is targeting the porn with its Clean Feed system.
The Internet Watch Foundation called the figures "staggering" and said
children were being abused in order to supply the hardcore images.
Police officials said the extent of the online porn problem was
"extremely disturbing".
Illegal images
BT said in its first three weeks its new system, which bars access to
particular sites, registered nearly 250,000 attempts to view web pages
containing images of child pornography.
That represents an average of about 10,000 requests each day.
Anyone trying to access such a site would be presented with a message
reading "Website not found".
Pierre Danon, chief executive of BT retail, said the company was
blocking access to hundreds of sites which had been identified by the
Internet Watch Foundation.
But he said BT did not track those trying to log onto the sites or
pass their details on to police.
Every image of a child that appears on the internet is an image of
a child that's abused
Minister Paul Goggins
And he said the company had no way of telling how many users were
navigating to such sites by accident.
"We don't know their motives or who does it and honestly we don't want
to know," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
A BT spokesman added: "It could be that one dedicated pervert is
making hundreds of attempts to get on websites each day."
Currently the technology is only blocking BT Retail's 2.5 million
internet customers from viewing child porn sites but Mr Danon said the
company would make it available to other internet service providers on
a non-commercial basis.
Home Office minister Paul Goggins said the figures revealed by BT were
"deeply shocking" and he said he hoped other service providers would
take up the offer of using BT's blocking technology.
He told the Today programme: "Every image of a child that appears on
the internet is an image of a child that's abused."
The BBC's Neil Bennett said even allowing for some people making
repeated attempts, it is clear thousands of people are trying to see
such material daily.
BT is only one of the main service providers in the UK and police
leaders are calling on others to block paedophile websites.
Websites assessed by the IWF as "illegal to view" under the
1978 Child Protection Act were targeted by BT.
The IWF keeps a real-time live database which is updated every time an
illegal site is found. At any one time there are thousands of sites on
the database.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/3908215.stm
Published: 2004/07/20 09:58:55 GMT
--
Seth Finkelstein Consulting Programmer sethf@xxxxxxxxx
http://sethf.com
Interview: http://grep.law.harvard.edu/article.pl?sid=03/12/16/0526234
Seth Finkelstein's Infothought blog -
http://sethf.com/infothought/blog/
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