Broadband News

TalkTalk to offer ‘active choice’ on parental controls

Tuesday 7 February, 2012

By Anthony Hill

Provider leads with government-backed initiative to help protect families online.

TalkTalk has today announced it is the UK’s first internet service provider (ISP) to offer new customers an “active choice” as to whether they use parental controls.

The initiative was a key recommendation in the government’s recent Bailey Review, which examined the commercialisation of children in Britain. It also has full backing from Prime Minister David Cameron.

By the end of February, all new customers joining TalkTalk for home broadband will be asked upfront if they want to activate HomeSafe, the UK’s only network-level parental control service, to help them control the types of content their children can access online.

The announcement came ahead of today’s Safer Internet Day events, organised in February each year to promote responsible use of web technology, particularly among young people.

Children’s minister Tim Loughton said: “It’s fantastic news that TalkTalk has worked so quickly to make ‘active choice’ a reality for parents. It will make it easier for customers to protect their children from harmful or inappropriate online content, from whichever device is used in the home, be it a laptop, games console or internet-enabled TV.”

HomeSafe is built into the broadband network itself, so every computer or device using the connection is protected. The service allows parents to block a range of content, including porn, gambling websites and violent imagery.

More than 270,000 customers have already activated HomeSafe and the number-one category parents are choosing to block is suicide and self-harm forums.

Home Office minister Lynne Featherstone said: “This is encouraging progress and a welcome example of what ISPs can do to help safeguard young people from harmful content on the internet.

“Active choice should go alongside good internet safety education, and - perhaps most important of all - conversations between parents and children about what they need to know to stay safe.”

Dido Harding, chief executive of TalkTalk, added: “While no technical solution alone can solve the issue of internet safety, we believe that it is our duty as an ISP to provide our customers with simple and effective tools like HomeSafe to help them protect their families online.”

HomeSafe is available free of charge to all TalkTalk customers and can be activated - or the settings changed - at any time via the online My Account service. It also enables customers to block websites infected with malware and restrict access to web-based distractions during homework time.