Kaspersky won’t budge after blocking PinkNews for under-18s
Internet security service Kaspersky is defending blocking access to PinkNews for young people, after claiming it is ‘adult’ content.
The Russian-based internet security company provides filtering and antivirus controls for people and companies across the world.
However, earlier this week PinkNews reported that PinkNews.co.uk had been classified as ‘adult content’ – and access cut off for any user under the age of 18 on computers using Kaspersky’s content controls.
The security company’s definition of adult content claims that “websites on sexual deviations” and “websites for discussion of human sexuality” are unsuitable for under-18s.
It also bans “websites of official media or online communities with established target audience that include special sections or articles on sexual relationships”.
Responding to several questions posed by PinkNews, Kaspersky confirmed the same filtering system applies for parental controls in the UK. It is unclear whether listing “websites on sexual deviations” as adult content is compliant with UK equality laws.
The statement said: “What is most relevant to this situation is that websites containing such adult content are only blocked when the parental controls are manually switched on.
“Such websites are not blocked with standard default settings. Our database is global so there is no variation in country.”
“It is important to us that our customers have a choice so if they consider this website appropriate for viewing by their children they have the option of whitelisting it. ”
The company did not explain why PinkNews was classed as adult content, saying: “You can find our definition of adult content on our website.”
A Kaspersky spokesperson said previously: “Pinknews.co.uk website falls under the category of ‘adult content’ therefore there is no contradiction with it being blocked by our product.
“You can find the definition of the ‘adult content’ on our official website.”
