Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
I don't know how it works from a technical perspective, but I understand that the list of "banned" sites is provided by the police.
The practical effect is that if you attempt to access a blocked site, you get shown a page saying that access has been blocked in accordance with British law.
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Actually you don't need to be police, anyone can suggest sites for them to censor. The Internet Watch Foundation is a charitable organisation supposedly outside of governmental control. A bit like our film censors, except nowhere near as transparent about what they censor.
The IWF are probably most famous outside the UK for banning Wikipedia a few years ago over a 1970s album cover by a heavy metal band.
With regards to the original topic, see also:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-14293730