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BT blocks thousands of child-porn requests

Graeme Wearden ZDNet.co.uk

Published: 20 Jul 2004 14:20 BST

BT said on Tuesday that its new Internet filtering tool was blocking thousands of attempts to access paedophilic Web sites every day.

The technology, called BT Cleanfeed, prevents BT Retail customers from accessing a list of Web sites identified by the Internet Watch Foundation as containing images of child pornography.

It was introduced on 21 June, 2004. BT has now revealed that by 13 July it had blocked around 230,000 requests for access to one of these sites.

BT insists that it doesn't keep an explicit record of customers who are blocked from accessing a site on the Cleanfeed blacklist; however, under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers (RIP) Act, Internet service providers can be forced to keep a record of all their customers' Web activity.

It is unclear how many Web users are responsible for the 230,000 requests, as a single surfer could generate a large number in a single session.

Over 50 MPs have signed an early day motion supporting BT for launching Cleanfeed, calling it an "an important deterrent to those accessing child pornography material on the Internet".

BT says it is happy to share Cleanfeed with other ISPs, but so far none have taken up the offer.