UK Internet service providers that fail to curb child pornography on the web would be criminalised in a crackdown to be introduced in the Queen’s Speech this autumn. The Home Office is drawing up plans for what, in effect, would be the first form of state intervention in Britain in relation to the internet. British ISPs would face heavy fines for failing to block sites containing images of child sexual abuse, according to the contents of a leaked Home Office document. This would appear to be another headline inspired move the is big on words and small on action. Apart from the fact that the mechanics of such a law would most likely prove unworkable you have to consider how this sort of material is made available in the first place and that is most unlikely to be via websites. The majority of hardcore child pornographers swap obscene and illegal material between themselves through encrypted peer-to-peer file-sharing networks which are very difficult to police. The new law would make little difference in reality. You must also consider serious offenders in this arena are not stupid. The nature of the internet makes it trivial to put the material in question offshore in a jurisdiction without such stringent laws and transfer secretly to users as required. If the UK government was really interested in doing something about this problem why pass the buck and try to penalise ISP's?