Following the European Parliament’s decision to pass a net neutrality bill earlier this week, Prime Minister David Cameron has said that he will make the internet parental controls agreement “the law of the land” in order to stop it being undone.
The EU’s net neutrality bill which came into effect on Tuesday states that all internet traffic must be treated equally regardless of its origin or destination, and prevents the blocking of or slowing down access to legal content.
In 2013, David Cameron put pressure on the major UK ISP’s to implement a network-level automatic filter for adult content. This filter is applied automatically, but is voluntary and can be removed on request. Content blocked includes pornography, self-harm information, violence and gore, as well as information about weaponry or hacking.
Under the new EU bill, which will restrict the blocking of content from 2016 onwards, the parental control filters would no longer be legal.
Speaking during Prime Minister’s Questions, David Cameron said: “I can tell the House that we will legislate to put our agreement with internet companies into the law of the land so that our children will be protected.”
In a fact sheet published by the European Commission, it is stated that ‘The freedom of European citizens to access or distribute internet content must not depend on the country in which they are.’ In contradiction to this statement, Wired claim that the PM had said they had secured an “opt-out” that would allow “family-friendly filters” to continue despite the new law.