[Alpine]

Which report discovers a loophole

UK consumer magazine Which said kids are able to access pornographic web sites by using mobile phones and that's because there's a loophole in phone safeguards.


It said that children can get codes for adult websites, paying for them by using premium rate text messages.

In tests, Which researchers obtained codes for eight pornographic sites, by using an O2 phone registered to a 15 year old girl.

O2 told Which there was a loophole and that it was checking to see if it could introduce additional safeguards. But Blue Coat Systems claimed the phone firms are being wrongly targeted. The problem is at the PC end rather than the phone firms' end, claimed Nigel Hawthorn, VP of the security company.

He said: "This is akin to holding the British mail responsible if my child puts five pounds in an envelope and sends it off to an adult website." Said Hawthorn: "Most mobile phone companies are now blocking the downloading of adult content on the phone and therefore the only way the child can access this information is via their PC." He said PCs should ue internet filtering software.

The INQuirer