The Cloud, one of the UK's largest Wi-Fi service providers, will start blocking adult content beginning next month. The company said that this move follows discussions with its hotspot venues, which include cafes and restaurants.
The Cloud, which provides Wi-Fi services in over 11,000 UK venues and is owned by satellite broadcaster BSkyB, will apply the filtering as standard in all venues that sign up to The Cloud from now on. Venues can ask to have the block removed if requested, according to Cellular News.
Vince Russell, managing director of The Cloud, said: "Our venue partners have told us their customers want to be able to surf the web but with the confidence that their children won't run the risk of being exposed to inappropriate material."
The Cloud will be the first Wi-Fi operator in the UK to take this step, and follows a move by its parent BSkyB to offer "active choice plus," which will see all its DSL subscribers asked whether they want to activate parental controls.
The company offered Wi-Fi access for free on trains and in parts of greater London during the Olympic Games.
Separately, research conducted by the network security firm Sophos claims that 27 per cent of over 100,000 wireless hotspots in London were found to have poor, or no security, with 21 per cent using default names which could be easily hacked, according to a Sophos statement.
The two-day experiment established that 8 per cent of Wi-Fi networks detected across London used no encryption both at home and at the office. The figure excluded intentionally open networks.
For more:
- see this Cellular News article
- see this Sophos release
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