UK government rules to block porn sites
New government plans to block access to porn sites to protect children online Getty Images/Manjunath Kira

A new legislation has been drafted by the UK government which will allow the internet service providers to block pornographic websites that do not follow user age-verification measures.

This will be included as part of an amendment to the new Digital Economy Bill.

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Under the new plan, the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) will be given powers to issue notice to the ISPs and mobile network operators to restrict access to the porn sites. The new measure will be tabled next week in an effort to prevent children viewing adult content online.

Karen Bradley, Secretary of state for culture, media and sport in a statement said: "The government is committed to keeping children safe from harmful pornographic content online and that is exactly what we are doing,"

"Only adults should be allowed to view such content and we have appointed a regulator, BBFC, to make sure the right age checks are in place to make that happen. If sites refuse to comply, they should be blocked," he noted.

In response to government's latest move to block porn sites, Jim Killock, executive director of UK-based Open Rights Group said this could lead to tens of thousands of websites being blocked, despite their content being legal.

Killock said, "In no way should this proposal be legislated for in this Bill. There has been no thought or consultation, and the government has not even begun to define how blocking might be attempted.

"They have no idea if it would work well or badly, or whether there is serious enough harm to justify such a massive restriction on UK adults' access to legal material."

"We do however know that over 90% of parents manage their children's activities online, according to OFCOM, and that 70% of households do not have children," he added.

The requirement to block porn sites would apply to all sites in the UK and overseas. Where websites originate in the EU the process will be compatible with country of origin rules, the government said.

According to a survey by UK's children charity NSPCC, 47% of the children between the age of 11 and 16 had access to adult sites. One in five 11-17 year olds said they had seen porn images that shocked or upset them.