Following the increasing government pressure on ISPs to look out for better online child protection, Sky has come up with its new network-level porn internet filtering system that will allow its broadband customers to configure porn filter as per their requirements or turn it off completely.
Sky Broadband Shield will be made available to all the new and existing Sky broadband customers starting yesterday. The system will filter content falling into porn, self-harm, suicide and other similar categories. The filtering system will be on by default from 2014. Sky hasn’t developed the categorization system, but is instead relying on Symantec.
PG, 13 and 18 are the three filtering level options offered to customers. The above 18 filtering level setting won’t block any content, but will provide some defense against content falling under phishing attempts and malware categories. People can choose from any one of the three levels making sure their household is okay with content suitable in any of the three categories.
Customers will also have an option to choose restrict certain categories and also the option to switch off the filter entirely. They just need to switch off filtering entirely through their My Sky settings. The network level filter will work on any devices connecting to the Sky broadband.
Lyssa McGowan, Sky director, said “Protecting customers from inappropriate content in the digital world is something Sky has always taken extremely seriously,” and “Sky has already played a leading role in protecting Sky homes from inappropriate content, as we know that’s what our customers expect of Sky.”
