THE GUARDIAN: Move to shield children from sex and violence / Labour and Tories want user uploads pre-screened
Politicians are ready to introduce league tables naming and shaming the speed with which internet service providers take down offensive material.
The culture minister, Barbara Follett, and her Tory shadow, Ed Vaizey, have backed the idea that web providers must be embarrassed into dealing with violent, sexually explicit web content.
Follett said she wants to see the pre-screening of material on sites such as YouTube, as occurs at present on MySpace. She admitted there was growing chaos out there on the internet, and order needed to be brought.
She has also admitted barriers aimed at preventing children from accessing over-age material on the internet are not just porous but leak like a sieve. "People can get straight through it, or straight by it."
Follett warned: "We must teach children of the dangers of the internet. It is sad to make children more scared than interested, but fortunately the internet is so interesting that children tend to overcome their fear."
Discussing the internet and video games at a Westminster debate and facing suggestions that the industry is lax about controlling content, Follett said: "We agree information about take-down times and levels of search need to be much clearer."
Asked if she supported league tables of take-down times by internet service providers, she said "name and shame can sometimes can work very well indeed."
Follett said: "Many people have said that the internet is like the wild west in the gold rush and that sooner or later it will be regulated. What we need is for it to be regulated sooner rather than later. Web Providers to Be Named and Shamed over Offensive Content >>> Patrick Wintour, political editor | November 15, 2008
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