Illegal file-sharing sees broadband getting cinema style classifications

According to the head of one of the biggest broadband providers in the UK parent will soon be able to stop their children from looking at pornographic websites or accessing illegal file-sharing by applying cinema style classifications to broadband services.

The CEO of Carphone Warehouse, which runs the TalkTalk broadband network, Charles Dunstone said “We are working on introducing parental controls within our network, so your household can decide whether you want to be a U, 14 or 18 certificate or unclassified.”

Access to particular file-sharing sites like Pirate Bay along with gambling and pornography websites will be available to parent without the need to load their computer with additional software by simply choosing either the U or the 14 option.

He advised “This is something that we are going to do anyway, as a service to our customers. But through doing it we can also help the content industry by blacklisting sites that have BitTorrent (a file-sharing technology) files on them,” he told The Financial Times.

With more than 4.25 million customers the TalkTalk division of Carphone Warehouse is claimed to be the largest provider of residential broadband services in the UK.

The government’s consultation on legislation that will address illegal peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing, as outlined in the recently released Digital Britain report has now led to these latest comments from Mr Dunstone.

With illegal downloading estimated to be costing the movie industry around £1.4 billion every year is actively looking at developing a much tougher stance on internet piracy.

The restriction of the download speeds of persistent pirates of digital movies by ISPs has been found to be an acceptable form of punishment by 50 percent of film consumers according to a new and recently release poll.

Source – Telegraph