In news that has nothing whatsoever to do with the monarchy, British Prime Minister David Cameron is a man with a mission. He plans to rid the internet of "porn filth" to protect the nation's young eyes.
According to an article in the UK Sun, within two years every family will have a choice: opt in or out of online porn. In short, every household can prevent their devices from accessing "extreme porn," i.e., acts that simulate rape. Such pornography is currently illegal in Scotland, but not in England and Wales.
Family man Cameron is intent that internet companies will face news laws forcing them to block such images from the web.
"I have a very clear message for Google, Bing, Yahoo and the rest," said the PM. "You have a duty to act on this—and it is a moral duty. If there are technical obstacles to acting on [search engines], don't just stand by and say nothing can be done; use your great brains to help overcome them."
The crackdown comes following a meeting Cameron held with parents of murdered girls April Jones and Tia Sharp. In the days before they committed their crimes, killers Mark Bridger and Stuart Hazell had accessed indecent images of children and violent adult porn.
In a separate move, Twitter has announced plans to introduce a tagging system that would block such pornographic images from being posted on its site.
It remains to be seen whether 19 million UK households will choose to switch on family-friendly filters... Personally I don't consider banning violent porn (or anything involving animals and children for that matter) as an infringement of freedom but an ethical necessity.
Should we adopt a similar policy on this side of the Atlantic?
Are you doing all you can to keep your kids safe online?
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