Almost one in five websites blocked by filters

A web tool designed to check sites being blocked by ISP filters has been launched

 Almost one in five websites tested in a new project are being filtered Photo: Getty Images        

By Rhiannon Williams

7:00AM BST 02 Jul 2014

Almost one in five websites are being blocked by overzealous filters, a project has found.

Open Rights Group's Blocked project has created a free checking tool, which returns information on whether a site is being blocked by filters.

To date, the site can checked around 100,000 websites, over 18,000 of which are blocked by one internet service provider (ISP) or more.

Political blog Order Order was blocked by TalkTalk, according to the project. Editor Paul Staines said: "We would really appreciate it if TalkTalk would remove us from their block list. The only people who block us are them and the Chinese government."

TalkTalk explained the blog may have appeared as blocked through the new tool due to constraints a customer may have chosen themselves.

“We fully support the aim of helping people understand how filters work and are continually looking to improve HomeSafe and the information we provide," a TalkTalk spokesperson said.

“Social networking filters are not switched on by default, and we will only filter out blogs and social networking sites when a customer has actively logged into their online account area and chosen to enable filters for this specific type of content. There is also a clear description of what each category covers so customers are making an informed decision.

“Customers using our HomeSafe to filter out other types of content, like sites about violence or suicide, can still access blogs, which are not about those specific subjects, and social networking sites."

Feminist rights blog Sherights was blocked by TalkTalk in April, and another site selling and servicing Porsches was blocked by O2, causing both sites to lose custom and potential advertising revenue, the project said.

Prime Minister David Cameron announced new measures to protect children from accessing online pornography and other potentially harmful content in July 2013.

Mr Cameron said the measures were vital to prevent children “stumbling across hardcore legal pornography”, but concerns have been raised the filters may incorrectly prevent access to sites free from pornographic content.

Jim Killock, executive director of Open Rights Group, said the project was created to examine the impact of web filters.

"Already, our reports are showing that almost one in five websites tested are blocked, and that the problem of overblocking seems much bigger than we thought," he said. "Different ISPs are blocking different sites and the result is that many people, from businesses to bloggers, are being affected because people can’t access their websites."

Source:  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/internet/10938475/Almost-one-in-five-websites-blocked-by-filters.html