Despite Cameron Pledge, Free UK Wi-Fi Still Allows Porn

UNITED KINGDOM—Tech-savvy observers warned British Prime Minister David Cameron to mitigate his promise of a porn-free Internet, but the assurances came fast and furious nonetheless. In addition to his pledge to impose an opt-out regime on internet service providers, he also said in April that free Wi-Fi in the nation would henceforth be wiped clean of the dreaded porn and other unsavory content. It has not quite worked out the way he imagined, however. According to The Telegraph, “An investigation by security firm AdaptiveMobile found that one in three UK cafes and restaurants had no content protection in place on their free WiFi networks, while a further 20 per cent failed to restrict access to adult dating sites that routinely have explicit pictures.” In addition to porn, “The survey also found that drug- and violence-related websites, including ILoveCocaine.com, were accessible in 80 per cent of sites surveyed.” However, despite the set-back, or perhaps because of it, the U.K. is considering even more stringent actions to accomplish what may be impossible to do by mere technological means. Another Telegraph article reports that new proposals include holding back payments to porn sites, including those not hosted in the U.K., that fail to prevent access by children “even if the material itself is not illegal. It is thought to be the first time banks have been asked effectively to police the internet in such a way.” Not quite. A United States law called the Child Online Protection Act went into effect in 1998 that did exactly the same thing by requiring sites to age verify visitors by way of credit cards. By 2009, however, after several years of appeals court activity, COPA was ultimately deemed unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court when it refused to consider yet another appeal of a lower court decision. England, however, does not have a First Amendment, which was the constitutional guarantee that won the day against COPA in the States. Because of that lack of civil protections, English speakers find themselves at inherently greater risk than their American cousins. This latest scheme, however, will be imposed on American websites as well as British ones, a stark reminder that one countries’ policies can have a profound impact on others’. Following a summit being held next month “with the UK Cards Association, the British Bankers Association, the Payments Council, and the leading credit card companies,” if the response is not what the government expects, litigation imposing COPA-like restrictions will be considered. For the time being, however, the Authority for Television on Demand (ATVOD), which regulates UK websites hosting videos, will take the lead in bringing actions against adult sites that allow unfettered access to minors. In fact, two Playboy websites have already been fined under the plan, proving that when it comes to keeping porn away from minors, the Brits are not whistling Dixie.