Nominet, the organisation supervises all UK web addresses, will screen all the newly registered domain names for terms that indicate or promote serious sexual offences.
A new system for post-registration domain name screening for .uk domain names will be deployed to check all the existing and new domain names within 48 hours of registration.
Once registered domains are found to indicate or promote sexual offences, they will be suspended or de-registered and the domain names indicating criminal content will be referred to the police for further action.
The latest move by Nominet comes in the wake of a recent policy review led by ex-director of Public Prosecutions Lord Ken Macdonald.
Nominet CEO Lesley Cowley said that the agency always had an important role as a trusted guardian of the UK internet.
"This update to our registration policy is something we feel is appropriate and practical," Cowley said.
"Even though we are only talking about a handful of domain names, we agreed that we do not want those domain names on the register – regardless of whether there was an associated website or content.
"So we are taking steps to remove domain names for which we can see no reasonable use."
Being modified in line with Nominet’s plan to run both an open and responsible registry, the targeted policies are aimed at offering an effective means of dealing with the isolated instances of domain names that promote serious sexual offences.
The updated registration policy will however not prevent completely legal registrations or impose disproportionate and cumbersome limits on over one million new registrations each year.
The agency has over 10.5 million web address entries, while only some of the 150,000-200,000 new registrations per month will be flagged under the new practise.
