UK filters to safeguard children block wrong sites -- report
The UK is now drafting a list of sites that should be unblocked by the filters and put onto a whitelist to ensure they stay accessible.
The UK government's request that Internet service providers use filters to block Web sites deemed potentially harmful to children has proven a bit overzealous.
According to the BBC, which earlier reported on the news, several innocuous Web sites are being blocked by the government-instituted filters, including charity sites serving children who are in danger or distress. Even TorrentFreak, a news site discussing piracy and and copyright activity, has been mistakenly blocked.
The UK government requested last year that ISPs block Web sites with pornography, violence, and other material deemed damaging to children -- unless account holders opted out of filtering. However, the filtering has proven less than perfect, and a number of sites aimed at actually helping children have been blocked.
According to the BBC, the UK government is currently drafting a list of sites that should be whitelisted.