Most households opt out of David Cameron's 'porn filter'
Most British households opted out of “child friendly” internet filters blocking elicit sites containing adult content including pornography when offered it by networks, according to Ofcom.
Virgin has been critisised by watchdog for low uptake
Less than a seventh of households signed up for the filters implemented to block sites with adult content - in an attempt to protect children.
The filter, offered by BT, Sky, TalkTalk and Virgin Media was adopted by ISPs after entering an agreement with David Cameron last year.
TalkTalk, which has offered the filter since 2011, now protects 36 per cent of users, Sky was second with eight per cent, BT had five per cent and Virgin Media only had four per cent.
The Ofcom report reads: “The filters allow a consumer to manage access in their home to a range of internet services which may include age-inappropriate content or contact risks. As would be expected from a filtering service designed to address parental concerns, there are a number of filtering categories common to all the ISPs – suicide and self-harm, pornography and file sharing are covered by all the ISPs’ respective classification systems, as are crime, drugs, violence and hate.
“Alongside the common classifications, some of the ISPs also feature supplementary categories in their filtering services, covering areas such as alcohol and tobacco, media streaming, fashion, search engines and portals.”
BT and Sky made filter services optional late in 2013 but Virgin Media missed the UK government deadline, adopting its filter, 'Web Safe', in February 2014.