Senior official says UK exploring national internet filter

LONDON (AP) - The head of Britain's newly formed cybersecurity agency says authorities are exploring the creation of a national internet filter to block malicious software and rogue websites.

Ciaran Martin, the chief executive of Britain's new National Cyber Security Center, told a conference in Washington that his agency is working on a flagship project which would block Britons from coming into contact with "known malware and bad addresses."

The speech, a text of which was released Wednesday, said that privacy and choice would be "hardwired into the program."

But advocates for a free and open internet raised red flags over what the Financial Times described as a "Great British Firewall" - a reference to China's vast internet censorship system.

The Cyber Security Center's mother agency, GCHQ, declined further comment on Wednesday.