Bill bids to block internet access to child porn

MPs will today debate an initiative to block access to child pornography over the internet.

Labour MP Margaret Moran has tabled a bill which would require internet service providers (ISPs) to declare whether or not they are using technology to bar access to illegal material.

BT has developed technology to block child porn via its internet system and has offered to provide advice and technical information free to other ISPs, said the Luton South MP. However, no UK companies are understood to have followed BT's lead.

Ms Moran said that her Control of Internet Access (Child Pornography) Bill would allow campaigners to put the spotlight on ISPs which did not use the technology.

ISPs would be required to state, either on their websites or in their annual accounts, whether or not they allow access to child porn by users of their services.

Ms Moran said: "People have asked why my Bill deals with child porn rather than porn.

"This is because I am not tackling the material itself, but the way it is collected through child abuse and rape.

"By challenging ISPs to come clean about whether or not they are taking steps to block the material, vulnerable children may, in the future, have less to fear."

The bill has been tabled under the ten-minute rule, which means it will be the subject of a brief debate on the floor of the Commons today, but has no prospect of becoming law.