We Won’t Ban Porn: Irish Internet Providers Say it is up to Parents to Protect Their Children Online

Yesterday we reported that a new EU survey revealed that 1 in 10 Irish children have watched porn online and that significant pressure was being put on internet providers to block unsuitable content.

Today, however, Irish internet service providers have said that the responsibility for stopping children viewing unsuitable content online lies with their parents and not them.

The Irish Daily Mail reports that the Internet Service Providers Association of Ireland (ISPAI) said that they were not considering implementing a service which would automatically block pornography and other content, simply because such an action would be the same as imposing censorship.

The Towards A Better Internet For Children survey was funded by the European Commission’s Safe Internet Programme, and surveyed 25,000 families in 25 countries across Europe.

The shocking results of the survey have sparked a massive outrage from child-protection groups and politicians, who say that internet providers need to introduce constraints that will stop children from viewing this kind of material online. They have said that if the internet providers fail to act, the Government must step in and legislate.

“These issues with the internet are not new, and while the study in question is important, these problems have been around for many years,” said Paul Durrant of the ISPAI.

“These are complex issues but really the full responsibility for controlling online content lies with the parents and in the home,” he added.

According to Mr Durrant, concerned adults should invest in filtering software for their computers which will give them more control over what their child can view online.

However, Mr Durrant also said that if the Government decided to legislate for the problem, Irish internet service providers would comply.

“It can’t be down to private companies to decide what does or does not go on the internet. That is effectively censorship and there are EU directives against this,” he added.