From news.eff.org!baroque.clari.net!bass.clari.net!soprano.clari.net!e.news Mon Aug 19 13:08:29 1996 Path: news.eff.org!baroque.clari.net!bass.clari.net!soprano.clari.net!e.news Distribution: cl-4 Approved: editor@clarinet.com From: C-upi@clari.net (UPI) Newsgroups: clari.tw.new_media,clari.world.europe.british_isles.uk.biz Subject: Britain urges Internet clean-up Keywords: media, telecom, court proceedings Organization: Copyright 1996 by United Press International Message-ID: Lines: 41 Date: Wed, 14 Aug 1996 6:50:30 PDT Location: Great Britain, Western Europe ACategory: financial Slugword: britain-internet Threadword: britain Priority: regular Format: regular ANPA: Wc: 405/0; Id: z7018; Src: up; Sel: i---f; Adate: 8-14-N.A Xref: news.eff.org clari.tw.new_media:2220 clari.world.europe.british_isles.uk.biz:3102 LONDON, Aug. 14 (UPI) -- Software which can screen out unwanted and undesirable Internet material should be made widely available in services developed by Internet service providers, Science and Technology Minister Ian Taylor urged Wednesday. He challenged the Internet industry to co-operate to help parents and schools control children's access to undesirable material on the Internet and welcomed the inclusion of screening standards in the new version of Microsoft's Internet browser. The Platform for Internet Content Selection, PICS, can be implemented on any PC platform to allow Internet users and parents to screen out undesirable material. Taylor said in a statement, ``Internet service providers should cooperate in developing services which can make use of features such as PICS. PICS leads the market and Microsoft's action in implementing it shows the way for others to follow. He said the Microsoft software placed Internet control in the hands of parents, schools, universities and other responsible organizations and could ``help bring confidence in, and familiarity with, the technologies of the information society.'' Taylor said that he believed that responsible service providers would wish to provide their customers with the means to activate the screening tools available to them. ``There is a distinction to be drawn between illegal material and undesirable or distasteful material. The police already act where material available on the Internet is illegal.'' He warned that the government expected to ``face increasingly strong calls for legislation to regulate all aspects of the Internet, unless and until service providers are seen whole-heartedly to embrace responsible self-regulation. In the absence of self-regulation, the police will inevitably move to act against service providers as well as the originators of illegal material. ``I welcome moves by the Internet Service Providers Association, ISPA, and others in the industry, to develop an appropriate code of practice. This will help protect both users and service providers on the Internet.'' He said, ``I believe the industry has the ability to provide its own solutions -- but they need to be brought to fruition urgently. It needs to be seen that the Internet can be an inviting place for those entering the information society. I challenge them to move swiftly.'' From news.eff.org!soprano.clari.net!e.news Mon Aug 19 13:15:24 1996 Path: news.eff.org!soprano.clari.net!e.news Distribution: cl-1,cl-2,cl-3,cl-edu,cl-4 From: newsbytes@clari.net (NB / LON) Newsgroups: clari.tw.new_media,clari.tw.top,clari.tw Subject: ****British Police Move To Stamp Out Internet Porn 08/16/96 Keywords: Bureau-LON, Online & Internet Organization: Copyright 1996 by Newsbytes News Network Message-ID: Lines: 104 Date: Fri, 16 Aug 1996 9:00:42 PDT Slugword: 9fc.14 Threadword: 9fc_14 ANPA: Wc: 0/0; Id: ; Src: nb; Sel: ; Adate: N.A-N.A Approved: e.news@clari.net Xref: news.eff.org clari.tw.new_media:2269 clari.tw.top:728 LONDON, ENGLAND, 1996 AUG 16 (NB) -- By Steve Gold. Following preliminary meetings with the Internet Service Provider's Association (ISPA) earlier this month, Scotland Yard has announced a major drive to clean up the Internet. According to the Metropolitan Police, the emphasis of the campaign is to get rid of Internet pornography. As part of the campaign, the "Met" has written to the 140-plus Internet service providers (ISPs) in the UK, giving them a long list of sites that require blocking. The action has the support of the Home Office and the Department of Trade & Industry, Newsbytes understands. Newsbytes understands that the list has a total of 133 Web sites and Usenet mail lists which are deemed to be unsuitable for general consumption in the UK. In its letter to ISPs, the Met said that "as many of you will be aware, the publication of obscene material is an offense." "This list is only the starting point and we hope that, with the cooperation of the industry and your trade organizations to be moving quickly towards to eradication of this type of newsgroup." "We trust that, with your cooperation and self regulation it will not be necessary for us to move to an enforcement policy," the letter said. The letter is signed by Chief Inspector Stephen French, who has noted that no ISP so far has been prosecuted for effectively carrying pornography across their services. According to Newsbytes investigations, all the major and minor ISPs in the UK have received the letter. However, the online majors, including America Online and CompuServe, do not appear to have had any correspondence with the Metropolitan Police. Even if so instructed, it seems difficult to see how AOL or CIS could engineer their systems to block access to such groups in the short term, although Newsbytes notes that both online services have a policy of blocking access to unsuitable sites, notably those used for paedophile information. As reported earlier by Newsbytes, the ISPA held a successful meeting with the Metropolitan Police at the beginning of August over the problem of pornography on the Internet. The ISPA was set up last year as a lobbying group for ISPs in the UK and, according to Sally Weatherall, the in-house solicitor and company secretary for UUNet Pipex, the UK's largest ISP, and who is also the legal advisor for ISPA, a meeting was suggested by Mike Hoskins, OCU Commander of the Metropolitan Police Clubs and Vice Unit. Weatherall told Newsbytes that the idea behind the meeting was to discuss the problem of pornography on the Internet, and the meeting was open to all ISPs in the UK, whether members of the ISPA or not. During the meeting, Superintendent Hoskins said that there are only two realistic options. Either the UK industry must take action itself to deal with the issue of porn on the Internet, or the police will be forced to intervene. Hoskins said that he favored the former option. A third option, to do nothing, he said, was not acceptable. Weatherall told Newsbytes earlier this month that, following the acceptance by the ISPA of its reactive code of practice for member ISPs in the UK, the association is moving steadily to educate its members as to the risks of carrying pornography across their Internet services. At the time, Weatherall told Newsbytes that the main thrust of the ISPA's actions in this context is the battle against paedophile activities. "Whether you look at it from the moral or the commercial issues, the law in the UK expressly prohibits certain material under the obscene publications legislation," she said, adding that ISPA was not seeking to block access to the more general sex topics on the Internet. "We're talking here about the illegal material, and the newsgroups whose sole purpose seems to be for illegal activities," she explained. According to Weatherall, ISPA is not making a moral or legal pronouncement over such newsgroups. "We consider it our duty to advise our members of the risks of carrying such material," she said, adding that the association has drawn up a list of "at risk" newsgroups and has circulated them to its members. "Pipex and BT Internet services and their ISPs no longer allow access to these newsgroups. This is a commercial decision because of the legal issues. It isn't a moral issue," she said. Weatherall has acknowledged that even the best policing and banning of extreme newsgroups can never block off such areas from public access. "The nature of the Internet is such that such areas can never be blocked," she said, adding that there is always a way round the obstacles. "All you can do is take what steps you can to prevent access to such illegal material. For the majority of people, this is sufficient," she said. The ISPA's Web pages are at http://www.ispa.org.uk . (19960816/Press Contact: Shez Hammill, ISPA Chairman +44-1424-830688)