Brightview announces blocking system for child abuse websites
A new system blocking access to child abuse websites is unveiled today by the leading internet service provider Brightview, in participation with the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF).
In a move to keep out as many paedophiles as possible, Brightview is offering its WebMinder system free to other service providers.
WebMinder also assists in the continued fight against spam, as links to these illegal sites sometimes circulate in spam e-mails which slip through even the most sophisticated filters. Innocent recipients of these links will not be able to open them.
WebMinder works by referring to a database of paedophile websites, compiled and constantly updated by the IWF, and blocks web surfers trying to access those sites. The configuration will not interfere with access to sites other than those identified by the IWF as being involved with illegal activity.
Peter Robbins, Chief Executive of the IWF said:
“We are delighted with the initiative launched by Brightview. This is an extremely positive approach to tackling this awful proliferation of child abuse images on the internet.”
Brightview Chief Executive David Laurie added:
“Our aim is to prevent access to child abuse images online. We have done this using open source software which we are making freely available to members of the Internet Service Providers Association (ISPA) and IWF.”
Mr Laurie said: “We will distribute the relevant network configuration at no cost, and gladly enter into technical discussions to further improve this technology.”
Brightview was founded by David Laurie in April 2001 and is one of the UK’s leading internet service providers.
Similar 'blocking' initiatives were announced by other IWF Members BT and Vodafone in 2004, who use the IWF database and block access to the URLs listed in their internet services. Iomart also recently launched their NetIntelligence Home Edition which also incorporates the IWF database and filters out the websites listed within it.
For further information contact:
David Laurie, Chief Executive, Brightview Group
Allan Piper, First City Financial Public Relation
Created: Wed, February 9th, 2005 | Last Modified: Mon, May 9th, 2005
