April verdict sparks calls for Google action on child porn

Google is facing calls to do more against child pornography after Mark Bridger was found guilty of murdering April Jones.

The internet search engine giant has insisted it has a “zero-tolerance policy”.

But John Carr, a member of the British government’s Council on Child Internet Safety, has suggested it could do more to prevent the spread of paedophilia images online.

He told the Today programme Google blocks access to addresses on the web it knows contains child abuse images.

“That’s being reactive — my argument is they can and should be proactive,” Carr explained.

“They could for example turn safe search on by default. That would block access to all hardcore porn sites.

“Google could set it up in such a way they’d have to register with them to get an account.

“They could ask them to verify if they’re 18 or above. That would be a huge deterrent for many of these guys.

“That would stop them getting on the pathway to child abuse images we’ve been discussing.”

Carr said being forced to register to view pornography would act as a significant deterrent to paedophiles, who use mainstream pornographic websites advertising ‘barely legal’ or ‘teen sex’ images as a gateway for illegal material.

“They will eventually get to places where the images are,” he added.

“Blocking access or putting any kind of barriers to sites like that would help reduce the number of guys who get involved with this stuff in the first place.”

Carr’s comments followed the guilty verdict delivered in the murder of April Jones, aged 5, in Powys, Wales last October.

It emerged during Bridger’s trial that police had found violent pornographic images of children on his laptop.