If you’re a Sky internet customer you may have already had some experience with the company’s internet filter. The provider lets users select whether they want to filter adult and questionable content as an option through the company’s website through their profile. Upon activation, websites deemed harmful to young people are blocked from access, which is of course useful if you have children.
The filters as an option for parents seem very useful, but according to recent UK government rumblings from Prime Minister David Cameron, using a filter or not should become an “unavoidable choice” in his words. To that end, Sky’s filter will be automatically turned on for customers who have not already made the choice to do so or not.
UK regulations on online activities are tightening of late – in fact a recent crusade against smut which included reviewing guidelines on pornography has been in effect in latter years. Whether it’s all based on our PM’s own vision of ‘how one should behave’ or just a media circus to inflame the political left is hard to tell, but the bottom line is it’s getting a little less seedy (officially) here in the UK.
Don’t expect to see any sex, drugs, alcohol, weapons and file-sharing sites once they are activated. Frequent users of such sites might take the opportunity to change their wicked ways and embrace the filter. It’s not a big surprise that internet users here in the UK are not big fans of the filters, with just one in seven subscribers to the big four ISPs opting to stay safe from the nasty side of the internet using the service.
Sky’s figures seemed to echo this low usage, with just eight percent of users turning the filter on prior to July 2013. Of course, once the mandatory roll out happens this figure could change, and Sky will no doubt release updated stats following the reaction to the forced choice, possibly showing a massive spike in usage and then a speedy drop. Of course, the usage levels may be higher than before, since people may have not heard of the feature before.
The filter will be activated in the coming weeks for all Sky Internet customers, and if you end up seeing it next time you conduct some shady operations online, you may want to turn off the feature by visiting Sky’s website at the link below, following the instructions, logging into your account, and turning the feature off. If at any point you feel remorse for your illicit activities, we recommend you visit your local church, or other relevant place of worship.
Sky Internet Filter Explained: Sky.com
Via: Engadget