The porn summit: Internet firms dragged to No10

By Ian Dunt

Internet firms were convening in Downing Street today, as the government lays down the law on child abuse and access to pornography.

Pressure has built on the government take action on the issue since images of child abuse and rape pornography was found on the computer of Mark Bridger, who was sentenced to life for the murder of five-year-old April Jones.

But internet firms are irritated that the government is conflating two issues – child pornography and children's access to legal pornography.

There is also concern from some internet campaigners at attempts by rape support groups to get the government to outlaw pornography depicting rape.

Yahoo!, Google, Microsoft, Twitter, Facebook, BT, Sky, Virgin Media, TalkTalk, Vodafone, O2, EE and Three are all attending the meeting, which will be chaired by culture secretary Maria Miller.

They are under pressure to implement a default porn opt-in function, so that internet users would have to actively unlock an adult filter to watch pornography.

Fleet Street newspapers as diverse as the Daily Mail and the Guardian have recently pushed for harder controls, as has Labour.

The Internet Service Providers Association, which represents UK net suppliers, supports making filtering tools more widely available but opposes default settings.

Internet experts warn that filters are not as effective as their supporters claim and that age-verification tools are also too weak to be reliable.

There are also calls to have pornography banned on public wifi.