Foreign Affairs
UK Concocts New Law To Keep Kids From Viewing Porn
No featured image available
The U.K. government announced Monday that it will soon start enforcing a new law requiring citizens to prove they are at least 18 years of age before they can access pornographic content.
The statute, which is part of the larger Digital Economy Act, would specifically force porn websites to install age-verification software, much like the technology that gambling sites embed into their online platforms.
“We have taken steps to implement the new age verification requirement for online pornography as part of our continuing work to make the Internet safer,” said digital minister Matt Hancock, according to Ars Technica. “The new scheme is complex and will not be fully in place until April 2018, but today we are bringing into force powers to designate the regulator and powers to allow guidance to be issued.”
How the government would be able to comprehensively implement such a policy is not fully known, especially since many salacious websites are based and operated outside the confines of the country.
Additionally, several sites have content that is considered lewd or pornographic by many, but aren’t technically classified as pornographic. In other words, social media companies like YouTube and Twitter often feature sexual material, but aren’t able to ensure they removed the smut or that there is an age requirement for viewing.
“One of the biggest issues for the adult industry is an equal application of the law. There are over 4 million domains containing adult content and unless sites are enforced against equally, stumbling across adult content will be no harder than at present,” Corey Price, vice president of PornHub, the largest porn website in the world, said in a statement provided to The Daily Caller News Foundation. “If the regulator pursues a ‘proportionate’ approach we may only see the ‘Top 50’ sites being effected – this is wholly unacceptable as the law will then be completely ineffective, and simply discriminate against compliant sites,” he continued, adding that other sites outside of the adult industry that still have adult content (like Twitter and dating services) will likely be unaffected, rendering the purpose of the legislation moot.
Price “firmly” advocates for parents being the best policemen of their children’s online activity. Explaining how there are already a plethora of tools available to combat a minor’s curious mind, he says that the law could potentially “send a message to parents that they no longer need to monitor their children’s online activity.”
Details are sparse thus far. The only mentioned measure for confirming one’s age includes mandating the input of credit card information. Sites that decline to comply will be subject to fines of roughly $289,500 USD, Ars Technica reports.
Price says that, while they won’t know “until the regulations are published,” they can “confidently assume” that mobile phone, passport or driver’s license data could also be used as methods of verification.
Aside from monetary concerns, the legislation is worrisome to privacy advocates. Not only can the bill be perceived as censorship of legal material, but it also could lead to the tracking of people’s pornographic tendencies.
“Age verification could lead to porn companies building databases of the UK’s porn habits, which could be vulnerable to Ashley Madison style hacks,” asserted Open Rights Group director Jim Killock, according to Ars Technica, alluding to the infamous unearthing of users secretly engaging on an adulterous social media site. “The government has repeatedly refused to ensure that there is a legal duty for age verification providers to protect the privacy of Web users.”
States within America have mulled over the possibility of adding somewhat similar porn-blocking software as well. Lawmakers in Arizona, and several other states, are currently considering some form of legislation that would block pornography on computer and phones unless people pay a tax.
Send tips to [email protected].
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact [email protected].