A child porn filter for cell phones that uses a blacklist of websites known to have allowed child porn to pass through them has been launched by Norwegian telecommunications company Telenor.
"Third-generation technology opens new opportunities for mobile phones," said Telenor consumer market division chief Berit Kjoll, announcing the launch June 7. "With the advent of new technology, new challenges also arise, as well as new demands on mobile operators. 3G is no exception.
"In principle, users may now connect to any website via their mobile phones," he continued. "At Telenor we are very pleased to extend the scope of the child pornography filter that we introduced for the Internet in October 2004 to also include mobile phones. In this way we contribute to address a very serious problem, while also setting new international standards."
The filter is derived from an Internet filter Telenor and the Norwegian National Criminal Investigation Service developed previously, bringing world attention to Norway's child porn and exploitation fighting efforts. Kjoll said Telenor may be the first in the world to build such a filter for cell phones.
Cell phone users who try reaching websites on the filter's blacklist will be redirected automatically to a site explaining that the site originally sought contained child porn.
The company called it a "natural further step in the right direction," considering the rising and broadening use of mobile telephony. Telenor said the Internet version of the filter registered more than 5,000 hits a day since it launched last October.
"Any attempt at accessing a child pornography website that we are able to prevent means less money to the people responsible for such sites," Kjoll said. "And money is perhaps the only language that these people understand. The statistics we have compiled show that the filter does have an effect."
