Home Office Guidelines for ISPs on Child Protection

The Register reports that The Home Office has announced new guidelines for ISPs to help protect kids from the dark side of the internet. The main points suggest that providers should:

• Offer users a way of reporting material that is illegal or potentially harmful to children


• Offer content filtering on search engines


• Manually review and approve websites included in search services aimed at children


• Consider whether they need human or automatic moderation for chatrooms


• Ensure where necessary staff who come into contact with children have had relevant Criminal Records Bureau checks

Home Office minister Paul Goggins - who is chair of the government's Taskforce on Child Protection on the Internet - proclaimed: "Countries across the EU and around the world are committed to making the internet safe for children and cracking down on paedophiles' use of the internet. I want to make sure that by working across international boundaries and involving the internet industry, we keep children safe from abuse in the UK and the rest of the world.