Civil liberties threatened by IWF censorship?

Freedom of expression is increasingly coming under threat from internet censors after the Internet Watch Foundation admitted that its remit could expand to more than simply blocking child pornography.

IWF director of communications Sarah Robertson said she “didn’t know” whether the IWF’s remit is likely to grow in the near future.

Robertson made the comment as she attempted to defend the taxpayer funded organisation following a mishap in which it accidentally blocked the picture of a Scorpions music album on Wikipedia.

The incident led to accusations that the organisation is part of a government effort to ‘increase the powers of the police state’ and erode civil liberties.

Blogger A. Nonymous commented: “I wonder how many other websites will be ‘accidentally’ blocked.

“This is nothing but a way to bring in censorship and have no one oppose it.”

Another blogger, who only gave the name ‘David’, commented that the IWF’s recent attempts to name-and-shame ISPs who refuse to block child pornography websites is “an invasion of privacy under the ruse of ‘child protection’.

He added: “At the end of the day my children are protected more if all their information is not sent directly to the government!”

IWF is funded by the EU, and ‘voluntarily contributions’ from service providers, including the BBC and Royal Mail.

Internet service providers in the UK block thousands of attempts every day to access child pornography, with BT alone blocking 35,000-40,000 daily attempts.