Government tackles terrorism with reporting button

The government is appealing for UK ISPs to clamp down on terrorism by adding reporting buttons that users can click to report potentially harmful content and including filters to block extremist and terrorist material.

Cameron told the Australian Parliament in Canberra that the UK government is asking ISPs to get involved in the fight against terrorism: "In the UK we are pushing them [ISPs] to do more, including strengthening filters, improving reporting mechanisms and being more proactive in taking down this harmful material."

"We are making progress but there is further to go. This is their social responsibility - and we expect them to live up to it."

While the idea hasn't been formally agreed by UK ISPs, they have confirmed they will be discussing the requests further with the government. The four big ISPs: BT, Sky, TalkTalk and Virgin Media all said they are committed to working with politicians to help their customers report extremist activity they see online.

A spokeswoman for BT told the BBC: "We have had productive dialogue with government about addressing the issue of extremist content online and we are working through the technical details," while Sky said: "We're exploring ways in which we can help our customers report extremist content online, including hosting links on our website."

TalkTalk also confirmed it would be working with the government: "We are committed to working with the government to help address extremist content and are exploring ways to achieve this," while Virgin Media said: "We're exploring options that will enable more extremist content to be filtered and reported. We'll continue talks with government as we work through the technical details."

The Open Rights Group has criticised the plans, saying it amounts to political censorship. Jim Killock, the groups's executive director said: "The government must be clear about what sites they think should be blocked, why they are blocking them and whether there will be redress for site owners who believe that their website has been blocked incorrectly."

Clare is the founder of Blue Cactus Digital, a digital marketing company that helps ethical and sustainability-focused businesses grow their customer base.

Prior to becoming a marketer, Clare was a journalist, working at a range of mobile device-focused outlets including Know Your Mobile before moving into freelance life.

As a freelance writer, she drew on her expertise in mobility to write features and guides for ITPro, as well as regularly writing news stories on a wide range of topics.