CYTA to block child porn websites

Cyprus Telecom Authority (CYTA) is set to install a new service to combat child pornography online – by blocking the offending sites – by the end of the year.

Working in collaboration with the UK-based web monitoring service, the Internet Watch Foundation, CYTA will automatically block all sites that are known to contain the illegal material.

Head of value added services at CYTA Costas Makris said yesterday: “We are adding the service to try and block illegal content, and in particular, child pornography, and we hope it will be up and running by the end of the year.”

For now, he said, the service would not be used to block file sharing services or sites that illegally distribute other media such as music.

“This will be done automatically at the network level, and it is only for web pages and content,” Makris said.

Asked about the scale of the problem of online child pornography, Makris said it was not a big problem, however there had been two cases in relation to the viewing of child pornography in the past two years.

The next step for the CYTA service, Makris said, was to tackle illegal online gambling: “We are waiting for the outcome of a new law on internet gambling, and if requested we can block these sites… maybe after that we can stop other illegal content.”

Currently, parents are able to restrict access to certain websites through CYTA’s “Safer internet” service, which has been running for the past five years.

Through this service, parents, schools and businesses can block certain categories of website from their children’s view.

For more information visit: http://www.cytanet.com.cy/Services/safe-internet/

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