UNITED KINGDOM—The U.K. has apparently decided that it simply cannot exist with an open internet available to everyone, including children, accepting the idea that parents are completely responsible for expending the necessary effort to keep unwanted content away from their kids. The consensus appears to be that too many options are afforded kids that are outside their parents’ control, and government, in conjunction with internet service providers, must provide a helping hand.
The government is torn, however, as to the extent of that helping hand, even though all seem to agree that households be given the ultimate decision about allowing porn, violence and other controversial fare into their homes. Up for discussion is when and how that decision is to be put in front of households.
To sort it all out and come to a final decision, the Department of Education has begun a consultation phase during which three proposed options are being considered. An official online Consultation Document lays out the options, seeking input from the public, members of UK Council for Child Internet Safety, and other organizations and individuals, especially parents, who might want to respond.
The three options being considered:
1. Each internet service provider is required to automatically blocks "harmful content," and users have to contact the company to reverse the block.
2. The "active choice" option that requires ISPs to ask new customers if they want "harmful content" blocked by the ISP.
3. A newly proposed variation on the two, called "active choice plus," proposes "that the user is clearly and unavoidably presented with a list of content types that will be blocked unless they choose to unblock them with a simple action such as removing a tick from a box."
According to the BBC, the latest proposal "is partly based on 'Nudge' theory, a US concept which states that persuasion, rather than enforcement, can be an effective way of changing behavior."
Frankly speaking, it sounds more along the lines of a "nudge,nudge, wink, wink" theory, but the U.K. government supports the idea by saying that "most ISPs do this for things like virus protection, where there's an obvious benefit to ticking ‘yes.’”
The consultation period began today, June 28, and ends September 6.
