David Cameron has insisted he is right to oppose a ban on Page 3 pin-ups despite his efforts to tackle on-line pornography.
The Prime Minister said there was a difference between newspapers, which parents could keep away from children and the internet where youngsters could “stumble across” legal but hardcore pornography.
Under plans set out by Mr Cameron the largest internet service providers in Britain will force customers to choose whether to turn off filters which will prevent customers viewing porn.
In an interview with BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour Mr Cameron insisted there was a distinction between images online and in the pages of a newspaper.
He said: “I’ve said what I’ve said about Page Three and The Sun and I haven’t changed my views. But should we do more to try and help parents to protect their children from legal pornography on the internet? Yes I think we should, and again last week we made some big progress on that.”
Mr Cameron added: “You can control your children’s access to newspapers and books and magazines. The problem with the internet is that our children are all online and they’re using YouTube and they’re searching for videos and the rest of it and there’s a danger that they can sometimes stumble across really quite hardcore legal pornography.”
The plan set out with BT, Virgin, Sky and TalkTalk “was all about making sure that every household is offered a default-on filter to stop those images coming through and that’s what we’ve enabled”.
He added: “I think there’s a difference between a physical product as I said and the internet and that’s why I think this specific action is needed on the internet and that’s why I’m driving that. I’ve answered the question about Page 3 before and I don’t believe in intervening in that but the internet is different because our children are on it. They’re in it.
“They’re searching for things and there is a danger, and I’ve seen this happen, of children finding things on the internet quite opposite to what they’re looking for, but often very shocking.” (PA)