Anger at ease of access to child-abuse websites

Published on Monday 23 February 2009 22:51

THE government is failing to resolve the issue of access to child-abuse images on the internet, according to major children's charities.

More than 700,000 households still had easy access to illegal child-abuse image sites, they said yesterday.

The Children's Charities' Coalition on Internet Safety expressed "regret and serious concern" at the "seriously damaging" situation.

In 2006, the Home Office confirmed it was government policy to ensure all UK internet service providers deployed a blocking mechanism for child-abuse images based on the list of known illegal websites that were maintained by the Internet Watch Foundation.

However, in June 2008, the Home Office indicated that the proportion of UK households covered had reached only 95 per cent.

Speaking on behalf of the Coalition, Zoe Hilton, policy adviser for the NSPCC, said: "We still have no idea when the government will finally conclude that the industry will not get us to the 100 per cent which has been the basis of policy since May 2006."