UK Child Porn Law 'Waste of Time' According to Dark ReadingWebsite says voluntary program only prevents accidental viewing, and does not block email, instant messages, or a variety of other Web trafficPRNewswire Measures being considered in the U.K. to combat the online scourge of child pornography will miss their mark and only force pedophiles to become more tech-savvy and surreptitious, according to a story posted today on CMP Technology's Dark Reading (www.darkreading.com) Website. To read the full story, visit: www.darkreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=97151. The British government wants domestic Internet service providers to introduce content-filtering software to block such images by the end of 2007. But network and personal security experts say that the software can only really prevent accidental viewing of such sites. Worse, it doesn't stop content from being delivered over encrypted connections, instant messenger links, or seemingly innocent P2P sites. The shortcomings of this pending legislation don't stop there, according to contributing editor Dan Jones, who broke the story. "What the government's proposed only applies to consumer lines, not businesses, and to broadband, not dialup," Jones says. "Pedophiles can still pass around images using email, IM, FTP, and so on, and they'll still be able to reach Websites outside the U.K., which is where most of this garbage is hosted." In fact, the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), a nonprofit group, reports good success with a hotline it operates, where Internet users can report suspected illegal images or sites. The group claims that today only 0.4 percent of child-porn images on the Internet are hosted in the U.K., down from 18 percent in 1997. Still, even with filtering techniques currently employed by British Telecom, pedophiles can circumvent existing filters using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) virtual private network connections, according to Richard Clayton, a researcher at the University of Cambridge Computing Laboratory. In addition, Clayton's developed his own workaround of BT's two-step filtering. He's not releasing the software; he developed it as an academic exercise to demonstrate just how easy it is to abuse the system. "My general view," he says, "is that this is a waste of time and money that doesn't stop people who really want to see this material from viewing it." "I don't think we make any pretense that there are ways around this for the most committed person," says for a spokesman BT. "But we want to keep this material off our network." Vernon Coaker, Parliamentary Under-Secretary at the Home Office, says the government wants U.K. ISPs of all sizes to have such protections in place by the end of 2007. "If it appears that we are not going to meet our target through cooperation, we will review the options," Coaker said just last month. Contact: Alix Raine SVP Communications CMP Technology 600 Community Drive Manhasset, NY 11030 516-562-7827 araine@cmp.com About Dark Reading Dark Reading is the latest enterprise-focused Web publication to emerge from CMP Technology's business unit, Light Reading Inc. As the Web's only one- stop security shop, Dark Reading simplifies the challenges IT professionals face in keeping informed about the latest viruses, enterprise network security, and data privacy. About Light Reading Reaching a core audience of more than 917,000 enterprise IT managers and executives, Light Reading Inc. publishes www.lightreading.com, the leading global content site for the telecom industry; www.byteandswitch.com, a storage networking site; www.unstrung.com, dedicated to wireless networking; and www.darkreading.com, an IT security site. Light Reading is also affiliated with www.heavyreading.com, a market research site offering quantitative analysis of telecom technology to carriers, service providers, and vendors. Light Reading was acquired by United Business Media in August 2005, and operates as a unit of CMP Technology. About CMP Technology CMP Technology (www.cmp.com) is a marketing solutions company serving the technology industry. Through its market-leading portfolio of trusted information brands, CMP has earned the confidence of more technology professionals than any other media company. As a result, CMP is the premier provider of access, insight and actionable programs designed to connect sellers and buyers in ways that yield superior return on investment. CMP Technology is a subsidiary of United Business Media (www.unitedbusinessmedia.com), a global provider of news distribution and specialist information services with a market capitalization of more than $3 billion. SOURCE: Dark Reading CONTACT: Alix Raine, SVP Communications, CMP Technology, Web site: http://www.darkreading.com/ |