The Prime Minister is to discuss plans under which consumers signing up for home broadband services must decide whether they want, or do not want, access to adult content sites.
One option being explored is that the “default” option will mean adult sites are automatically blocked unless people choose to switch off the censoring filter.
The action comes as fears grow that children as young as 11 are becoming addicted to obscene online material. Three quarters of children have unaccompanied access to the internet and 800,000 can view adult content, including 14 per cent of those younger than 10.
British internet providers make more than £3billion a year and about a quarter of searches online are for pornography.
Some campaigners, including Tory MPs, have called for pornography to be barred automatically from home internet services unless users “opt in” for adult content.
The Daily Telegraph understands that the Prime Minister does not want to introduce such a draconian system. Instead he favours an “active choice” option, though he is prepared to consider the “default off” control.
Reg Bailey, the head of the Mothers’ Union, was commissioned by Downing Street last year to hold a review of the sexualisation and commercialisation of children.
Mr Bailey recommended the “active choice” compromise for web services.
He drew on evidence that when parents had to make this decision it also prompted conversations about what they needed to do to keep their children safe online. His report was supported by children’s groups and charities. A group of MPs, led by the Conservative Claire Perry, has called on ministers to go further.
Mrs Perry said: “If British Internet Service Providers introduced 'opt-in’, we would be the first country in the world to have such a system. We led the world on blocking child abuse imagery.
“We’ve done it before. We can do it again. And what a wonderful legacy to give to our children. The time for hand-wringing is past and the time for common sense solutions is here. We have got to act.”
Many internet service providers already offer parental controls and the approach decided upon by Mr Cameron is likely to be introduced voluntarily. The Prime Minister met senior figures in the internet industry yesterday morning.
The Government is also expected to unveil plans in next week’s Queen’s Speech to overhaul communication laws and the controls could become compulsory.
In a speech last year, Jeremy Hunt, the Culture Secretary, admitted that, “as a father of a young child”, the ease of access to adult websites was of “huge concern”.
He said: “I believe the way to address this is to put consumers firmly in the driving seat.”