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Man who helped draw up U.K.’s porn filters is being investigated for child pornography

Published Mar 4th, 2014 11:45PM EST
U.K. Internet Porn Filters

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To say that the U.K.’s Internet porn filter policy has been a predictably hilarious disaster would be understating things. The filters have blocked U.K. web users’ access to legitimate health websites and have even censored websites of anti-pornography politicians simply because those websites frequently mentioned the evils of porn. And now The Guardian reports that the U.K.’s porn filters have been hit with yet another ironic public relations setback: One of the men who helped draw up the porn filter plan is being investigated for allegedly possessing child pornography.

Patrick Rock, a senior aide to U.K. prime minister David Cameron whom The Guardian says was a key architect of the government’s policy against Internet porn, has been arrested on “allegations relating to child abuse imagery.” Rock apparently resigned from his position last month after Cameron’s office got word of his impending arrest on February 12th. A spokesperson for Cameron wouldn’t comment on the specifics of the Rock investigation but did say that “the prime minister believes that child abuse imagery is abhorrent and that anyone involved with it should be properly dealt with under the law.”

Brad Reed
Brad Reed Staff Writer

Brad Reed has written about technology for over eight years at BGR.com and Network World. Prior to that, he wrote freelance stories for political publications such as AlterNet and the American Prospect. He has a Master's Degree in Business and Economics Journalism from Boston University.