Internet regulations proposed by culture secretary

22:15 30th December 2008

Websites could be awarded ratings to indicate the suitability of content for young people, it has been reported.

Culture secretary Andy Burnham stated his concern in an interview with the Daily Telegraph at children being able to access web content that may not be appropriate.

He said that he is contemplating a policy that will introduce regulations to ensure people under a certain age are unable to access certain websites.

Mr Burnham's comments have left many in the IT sector unsettled at the concept of website censorship.

Burnham, the MP for Leigh in Greater Manchester, told the Daily Telegraph. "If you look back at the people who created the internet, they talked very deliberately about creating a space that governments couldn't reach. I think we are having to revisit that stuff seriously now."

Mr Burnham also said that offensive material should be removed from social networking sites such as Facebook within a specific time-frame.

Facebook is a social networking site that was set up in 2004 by Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg.