Internet: Security
Baroness Warsi: To ask Her Majesty's Government
what advice and support they have given parents to restrict access to
illegal content on the internet. [HL3010]
Lord West of Spithead, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Security and Counter-terrorism, Home Office:
Internet service providers (ISPs) through the Internet Watch Foundation
(IWF) minimise the amount of illegal content hosted in the UK. The IWF
operates a “notice and takedown” service to its members if the content
is hosted in the UK and the IWF list enables ISPs to block child sexual
abuse images if they are hosted abroad.
The Home Office launched the BSI kitemark in April 2008, which is a
publicly available specification for parental controls and filtering
software. The kitemark will serve to give parents confidence in such
products, encourage product development among manufacturers and, most
significantly, help to reduce the amount of harmful content seen by
children. The Government fully support the kitemark and encourage
companies to apply for it.