Cleanfeed was the name given to various privately administered ISP level

content filtering An Internet filter is software that restricts or controls the content an Internet user is capable to access, especially when utilized to restrict material delivered over the Internet via the Web, Email, or other means. Such restrictions can be appl ...

systems operating in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

, and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

with a view to future mandatory implementation. These government-mandated programs originally attempted to block access to

child pornography Child pornography (also abbreviated as CP, also called child porn or kiddie porn, and child sexual abuse material, known by the acronym CSAM (underscoring that children can not be deemed willing participants under law)), is Eroticism, erotic ma ...

and abuse content located outside of the nation operating the filtering system.

Implementations

United Kingdom

Cleanfeed is a content blocking system technology implemented in the UK by BT, Britain's largest Internet provider as the first to block the Internet Watch Foundation's child abuse image content list. It was created in 2003 and went live in June 2004.

Canada

Cleanfeed in Canada is a voluntary

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

URL A uniform resource locator (URL), colloquially known as an address on the Web, is a reference to a resource that specifies its location on a computer network and a mechanism for retrieving it. A URL is a specific type of Uniform Resource Identi ...

filtering list maintained by

Cybertip.ca Canadian Centre for Child Protection (C3P; ) is a Canadian Registered Charity, registered charitable organization dedicated to the personal safety of all children. More specifically, its goal is to reduce the victimization (Child sexual abuse, ...

for use by participating ISPs. Eight major providers, representing approximately 80% of Canada's Internet users, have been using the list since November 2006 to block foreign websites.

Proposed implementations

Australia

Cleanfeed in Australia was a proposed mandatory ISP level content filtration system. It was proposed by the

Kim Beazley Kim Christian Beazley (born 14 December 1948) is an Australian former politician and diplomat. Since 2022 he has served as chairman of the Australian War Memorial. Previously, he was leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and Leader of the ...

led

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also known as the Labor Party or simply Labor, is the major Centre-left politics, centre-left List of political parties in Australia, political party in Australia and one of two Major party, major parties in Po ...

opposition in a 2006 press release, with the intention of protecting children who were vulnerable to claimed parental computer illiteracy. It was announced on 31 December 2007 as a policy to be implemented by the Rudd ALP government, and initial tests in

Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...

produced a report in 2008. Public opposition and criticism quickly emerged, led by the EFA and gaining irregular mainstream media attention, with a majority of Australians reportedly "strongly against" its implementation. Criticisms included expense, inaccuracy (it will be impossible to ensure only illegal sites are blocked) and the fact that it will be compulsory. Cleanfeed was quietly abandoned as a policy after the 2010 election.

References