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UK government calls Internet companies to block 'harmful' content: Reports

UK government calls Internet companies to block 'harmful' content: Reports

By Press Trust of India | Updated: 11 June 2013 13:47 IST

British government authorities have called chiefs of social media and telecom companies on June 17 to discuss blocking on objectionable content, which include porn, racial hatred, on Internet, according to media reports.

A report by 'The Independent' said: "Maria Miller, the Culture Secretary, has summoned the bosses of companies such as Google, Microsoft and Facebook to a summit in two weeks at which she will demand much closer industry-wide co-operation to prevent the uploading, downloading and sharing of harmful material."

The letter from Miller has gone to firms after two killings in the UK - Woolwich terrorist attack and killing of five-year-old April Jones, the report said.

In the aftermath of Woolwich terror attack there was widespread racial abuse and comments on social media noticed in UK alongwith increase in anti-Muslim incidents, it said.

Miller said: "A relatively small number of organisations wield a great deal of online power - and I believe that with that power comes a great responsibility."

It may be noted that Internet firms had expressed their inability to provide any technical solution for blocking hatred and objectionable content on Internet under the Indian laws.

An amendment to the Indian IT Act in April 2011 had put norms to check hosting of objectionable and violent content on computer resources, including websites, in the country.

The amendment had come under attack from a section of media, activists and Internet companies. It was termed an attempt by government to gag freedom of speech and expression in the name of 'objectionable content'.

Another report by the 'Daily Mail' quoted UK Prime Minister David Cameron as saying: "I am sickened by the proliferation of child pornography. It pollutes the Internet, twists minds and is quite simply a danger to children."

"Internet companies and search engines make their living by trawling and categorising the web. So I call on them to use their extraordinary technical abilities to do more to root out these disgusting images," the report quoted Cameron as saying.

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