TalkTalk Apologizes for Filtering Women's Rights Website

UNITED KINGDOM—The problem with ISP-level filtering is that the filters are notoriously imprecise and tend to sweep up websites that have nothing to do with the ones the government wants filtered. This has always been the case when large-scale censorship is attempted, and it is once again the case with the bumpy rollout of Prime Minister David Cameron's nationwide mandate. In these situations, mistakes (if they are mistakes) are uncovered one at a time in a excruciating process that never seems to end. Along the say, negative publicity tends to greet each new incident, allowing critics to voice their displeasure anew. That is certainly the case with British ISP TalkTalk's filter, called HomeSafe, and the women's rights website SheRights.com, which was apparently being blocked by the provider. This weekend, a blogger named Zara Rahman noticed the block and took it to Twitter, where she tweeted Sunday morning, "TalkTalk_UK blocks me from sherights article on 'dude feminism.' Reason: 'Pornography.'" She added, "Turns out the whole https://sherights.com site is blocked. Heaven forbid kids learn about gender equality, right?" It didn't take long for cyberspace to hear her complaint. By this morning, U.K. website PC Pro had already published a story on the block of SheRights.com, which contains no pornography (at least as most people define it). But perhaps even worse was the reported manner in which TalkTalk replied to Rahman when she contacted them for an explanation. According to PC Pro, "TalkTalk’s customer care account initially suggested she adjust her security settings, which drew an angry response from Rahman and others, who pointed out the site should not be blocked at all." After reconsidering that response, TalkTalk "subsequently said it's looking into the matter, but was unable to comment further," but the matter hardly rested there. PC Pro quickly got a quote from Jim Killock, executive director of the Open Rights Group, who told them, "We’re going to see many more examples of sites blocked for no good reason. TalkTalk should not be blocking feminist sites as pornography. ... Filters are a blunt instrument and will block the wrong sites." Another U.K. tech site, ISPerview, also started covering the situation, and posted its own story this morning. By mid-afternoon London-time, however, the increasing media, and social media, coverage had obviously held sway with TalkTalk management, which issued a statement to ISPreview at approximately 2:45 p.m. that announced an about-face on the matter of SheRights.com. "We’ve always been clear that there will be a small number of websites which are filtered in error, as unfortunately no filtering solution can ever be 100% perfect," said TalkTalk. "Clearly this website should not have been classified in this way and we are grateful to our customers for bringing this to our attention. "We have reclassified the website and so it will no longer be filtered in error," it added. "We have a simple one click reporting button that anyone can use to tell us if they think this is the case. We’re continually developing HomeSafe and welcome feedback of this nature.” It is unlikely, however, that TalkTalk's change of heart will mollify opponents of ISP-level filtering.