Be Excellent To Each Other

The UK is moving dangerously close to internet censorship and we need your help to stop it!


Recently the Government, with the help of religious lobby groups, has persuaded ISP’s to introduce an internet filter across the UK. By default, your ISP can decide what you can or can't see online, unless you request otherwise.

It’s a bad idea that doesn’t work, is dangerous for internet freedom and could give parents a false sense of security when it comes to their children’s use of the internet.

We need your help to launch a campaign to make the UK public aware of this important issue. It will be led by a funny and pointed video that will show people why this filter is bad for them and their families.

It’s been developed by the advertising creatives who were behind the campaign that helped kill off plans for an internet filter in Australia. The Australian Prime Minister of the time even admitted as much!

We need your help to raise £12,000 to get this campaign off the ground. So if this is an issue that is important to you, please donate now and help us raise awareness about internet filtering in the UK!

Internet filtering is a slippery slope

Every major internet service provider in the UK has installed default filters that block websites that contain material that isn’t appropriate for children. This means that your internet service provider gets to decide what you can or can’t see online, regardless of how old you are.

Recently, the government asked to add secret extremist website lists to the blacklist as well so we can only expect that this list will grow and grow. Then there’s the problem that a whole load of sites get blocked by mistake - from churches (they mention wine!) to political blogs that have been miscategorised as hate speech. And a lot of sites that children should have access to - such as sites on sexual health - are also blocked. Once your website is on a blocked list, there’s no easy way to get off it.

Giving parents a false sense of security

Let’s be honest, no one wants their kids seeing porn or stuff that might upset them but David Cameron’s suggestion of, "one click to protect your whole home and keep your children safe" is deeply irresponsible. It may come as a surprise to Cameron but parents might need to act like grown ups when it comes to adult content. Talking about porn, extremism or self-harming sites might not come naturally to most of us. But we have a responsibility to equip our children with the skills they need to navigate their way in the digital world - just as we do in the non-digital world. Filters don’t do that.

If parents want to switch on filters, that is their choice. But it should be an informed choice and there are alternatives to default filters, such as device-level filters, which are more effective.

If parents don’t want filters, they shouldn’t be made to feel ashamed or that they are failing as a parent because they’ve decided to take responsibility for how their kids use the internet. If you don’t have kids, then there is absolutely no reason you should feel pressurised into switching them on.

Filters don't solve society's problems

Filters are harmful for people who are browsing for information about domestic violence, safe sex or drugs health but they are not going to stop a tech-savvy teenager who is determined to find adult content.

If it turns out the public don’t want filters to censor what they see online, then politicians will start asking for blocks that are even harder to switch off. They will continue to claim that filters can solve every social ill. We have to discredit this ridiculous idea. We don’t have to put up with censorship just to make their lives easier. Support this campaign so we can show exactly how stupid filters are.

Filters are not just an attack on free speech, they don’t work. Help us to fight them.