By editorial@silicon.com, 21 February 2001 05:20
COMMENT It begs the question - what next? Drugs information? Other forms of pornography? Soliciting? Where does the industry draw the line? Answer: where paedophilia is involved. To remove this material is not a breach of anyone's civil liberties. In fact, it's the children whose rights have been abused. It is not in the same league as drugs or adult pornography or most of the other potentially offensive material on the net. It's time the internet industry understands it has a responsibility to act in a socially acceptable way if it's to be where it should be - namely at the heart of today's society. Is it censorship? Let's not forget paedophilia is illegal. If anyone wants to argue why that shouldn't be the case, then not letting them have their say - on the net or elsewhere - would be wrong. But in the meantime, let's give Thus some credit. At the same time, Demon - which, if you remember, went through the courts over the issue of monitoring and pulling illegal content from its servers with Dr Laurence Godfrey not so long ago, arguing then that it couldn't be responsible for the content on its servers - is once again at the centre of an issue most UK ISPs have long given a wide berth. Part of the imminent EU ecommerce directive makes sure ISPs aren't responsible for third-party content - they are mere conduits, the very defence Demon used in the Godfrey case. But with its slight shift in attitude, Thus - whatever the merits of its actions - has started down a rocky road which, although popular among the general public, will leave some of its ISP peers shaking. We await their responses with interest.
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