UK Proposes National Porn Filter

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British Prime Minister David Cameron has made a proposal to make porn filters mandatory on new computers purchased in the U.K.

Under the plan, people would have to answer questions as the first step in setting up an Internet connection. "Are there children in the house?" would be the first question, followed by others to establish an appropriate filter. If the new computer owner opted out of answering, the strongest filter would be activated to block porn and other "objectionable" sites.

Media reaction has been mixed. One newspaper touted the move as a victory for parents, while another said it was a "step toward state censorship."

Currently, the British government requires Internet service providers to install filters to block sites that are considered "criminally obscene" and those that contain child pornography. Possession of "extreme pornography," which includes depictions of bestiality, carries a three-year prison sentence.

Egypt recently moved to block all sexually explicit websites, joining most other Muslim nations including Indonesia, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

Meanwhile, Australia has abandoned its plan for a national filter that would have blocked child pornography, along with sites that contained extreme violence.

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The U.S. does not have any sort of national filters. Porn filtering is left up to individual computer owners, who have a variety of ways to block porn, both free and paid. Google and Bing offer safe search filters through their settings, plug-ins are available to block websites with an .xxx extension, and major browsers also offer varying degrees of web filtering. In addition, numerous web filtering software solutions are available.

For a listing of recommended Internet monitoring programs, see TopTenREVIEWS. Far more than porn filters, these programs let parents monitor chats, social media and other communication that could pose a risk to family members.