UK broadband provider to tighten web access

In what is effectively a tightening of internet access in the United Kingdom, broadband services provider Sky has announced that starting early next year its optional block on access to ‘adult’ sites will become the default setting for new sign-ups, which customers will have to find and change if they want to view categories like online gambling.

The decision changes the current system, in which viewers who feel strongly about such adult sites can ask for the Broadband Shield filter to be switched on.

Going further, Sky also plans to again communicate with its viewers, asking them if they would like the filter switched on…be advised that if you don’t respond to this communication, Sky will assume you want to exclude adult categories and switch your filter on anyway. That is reversible, however.

According to the latest Ofcom survey just over a third of Sky viewers have the filter switched on…more than double those at rival networks BT, Virgin and Talk Talk.

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