Thus plc, owner of ISP Demon Internet, yesterday announced that it
will take a more proactive role and will seek and remove paedophile
newsgroups from its servers. In doing so, it is taking a different
approach from its rivals. ISPs are not legally required and do not
monitor the content of their servers.
Thus says it continually removes articles containing paedophilic
content from its servers and in January alone, 647 articles were
removed by Thus from newsgroups following the discovery of illegal
material.
Yesterday’s announcement means that not only will the articles
be removed, but the known paedophile newsgroups will also be taken
down.
ISPs are required to remove illegal material from their servers
when they become aware that such material exists; but they are not
required to actively monitor what material is posted to sites that
they host.
Keith Monserrat, director of legal and regulation at Thus,
said:
"While it is impossible for ISPs to stop all
illegal content from being published on newsgroups, I believe that
there is much that can be done to police what is currently out
there; to protect the vulnerable and to increase our
vigilance."
