Slashdot Mirror
UK Proposes Mandatory Age Verification For Porn Sites (mirror.co.uk)
A proposed bill read in the House of Commons, "suggests that by next year websites will require visitors to prove they are of legal age before entering..." reports the Mirror. Britain's prime minister "says none of Britain's top 10 porn sites -- which account for 52% of all views -- have a 'robust' process to verify users' age," citing figures that 10% of the site's viewers are below the age of 18. The Independent adds that "the issue has alarmed privacy campaigners, since it could mean having to register a credit card with a porn website."
U.K. lawyer Neil Brown contacted Slashdot with more on the age-verification requirement:
Sites which failed to do so could face fines of up to 250,000 pounds or 5% of annual turnover. Their URLs could also be given to ISPs and payment processing providers, to consider voluntary blocking/service suspension, although no mandatory blocking regime is planned currently.
This is the same bill that proposes jail terms up to 10 years for those found guilty of copyright infringement. According to the article, one 2013 study found that 7% of the world's porn was hosted in the UK, with 60% in America and 26% in the Netherlands.
This is the same bill that proposes jail terms up to 10 years for those found guilty of copyright infringement. According to the article, one 2013 study found that 7% of the world's porn was hosted in the UK, with 60% in America and 26% in the Netherlands.
Great, another reason for businesses to abandon the sinking ship that is the UK economy.
Unless I'm missing something, how exactly do they plan to enforce this for overseas sites?
Or is this going to end up with some braindead ISP filter saying: "I see you're trying to access a porn site, I've logged that for you, now confirm who you are so I can log that too (under the guise of letting you have access once verified)"
Privacy invasion, much.
It's the job of the parents to control access to the internet from their house, not the state. If the state has to do this, then perhaps the parents should be held more responsible?
These crusty politicans have no idea how the internet works. Sad, really.
Fascists and Theocrats run wild!
Good luck with that. I'm sure the whole world of waiting to comply.
And propose successfull wisdom checks for politicians...
I'm glad to see that Slashdot hasn't changed any under the new owners...
https://news.slashdot.org/story/16/07/09/071233/wannabe-prime-minister-andrea-leadsom-thinks-websites-should-be-rated-like-films
Another "good Idea" that cannot work. porn sites will move to another country.
see people getting beat, raped, shot, killed, blown to pieces, or worse, on TV: fine
watch two people having sex: outrageous and damaging to the development of a healthy child
What about the fact all those people proposing watched porn before they were adults and did not turn in pervert and psychopaths?
Maybe the UK has more chance to enforce this if they propose this at EU-level.
Oh wait..
every time i see some weird killswitch legislation proposed in the UK im boggled as to how this gets implemented...I mean, if I were a UK sysadmin would I just be handed a list of network routes I had to drop? or is there a python script i write that scrapes emails from my boss to figure out who I send nastygrams to after shutting down their server?
What if the server is a virtual host? do i have to shut everything down then? a single route? all routes? Just because little catherine saw her first penis, does it mean I have to suspend an account that controls the website for a favourite tea brand?
Good people go to bed earlier.
Use a proxy, claim to be from X which doesn't require this. Problem solved.
Am I missing something? Serious question...
I still remember having to work for my porn with playboy magazines, hustler's, VHS, and etc. My first sex movie which wasn't porn at all but it had two sex scenes in it. My friends and I passed that VHS around all over.
Now access to porn is just a few clicks away on any computer without much effort. I'm not saying everyone will turn out to be perverts or deviants but all that limitless exposure will have some affect in human psychology.
It's sick how the politicians are using their usual excuse of "think of the children" to attack the free internet via porn, while they let paedophile (pedophile) gangs roam UK's treats for decades, even police and social services helping these gangs commit their crimes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
But just as bad, while politicians have a fetish over banning porn, they have no problem having 24/7 violence on TV. How many people are killed with sex, and how many people killed because TV gives impression to people that violence is ok?
It's all a smokescreen to control the internet, most people too stupid to see it, they are just fixated on the control porn argument.
Take Nobody's Word For It.
1) Exit EU
2) Ban Porn
Result: Millions of horny teenagers unable to move around, and unable to do anything except fuck each other!
Foreign porn sites should just pre-emptly block the UK from accessing them, like with a disclaimer.
"This site is blocked for UK visitors. Why don't you go have sex with an attractive British girl instead?"
[picture of J Jonah Jameson laughing his ass off]
Perhaps if David Cameron had internet porn he would have known that there are better places to put your manhood than a pigs head.
Britain's prime minister "says none of Britain's top 10 porn sites -- which account for 52% of all views...
Ok... lost me right there... where can I find that list?
It will no longer be cool and exciting and instead be boring and uninteresting, leading to fewer people being interested in sex, since they will have looked at it before they had a sexual response to it and now find it a turnoff in their post-pubescent years?
I mean seriously the majority of kids I know did it to say they did it, or to find out what all the fuss was about. Take the fuss away and it gets pretty boring/old/tacky/what old people do in a hurry. I forsee it ending up sort of like legalized drugs, once the mystique is stripped away more people will be in the open about it, but even more will no longer be interested in it since it isn't taboo anymore.
Whether that is a good or bad long term effect remains to be seen, but given all the fucked up shit that happens without regular access to porn I don't forsee it being any worse than society already is. And restricting it won't make society better, it will just leave a large percentage unaware, and naivety is the firm step in corruption.
I never "enter" a web site. Much less a porn site. Yukkk...
You're holding it wrog.
Unless I'm missing something, how exactly do they plan to enforce this for overseas sites?
Or is this going to end up with some braindead ISP filter saying: "I see you're trying to access a porn site, I've logged that for you, now confirm who you are so I can log that too (under the guise of letting you have access once verified)"
Privacy invasion, much.
It's the job of the parents to control access to the internet from their house, not the state. If the state has to do this, then perhaps the parents should be held more responsible?
I find it amusing how conservatives, who are usually the most energetic at raging against regulations and the mommy state, are the most eager to impose mountains of regulations, draconian censorship and generally the mommy state on the public in order to regulate other people's sexual behaviour. In fact it is downright creepy how obsessed they are over who other people might be having sex with in the privacy of their bedrooms and how they are doing it, or in this case what they are using their laptops or tablet computers and tissue dispensers for in the privacy of their bedrooms.
As the Brexit poll showed a few days ago, there is a large percentage of any population that is completely out of touch with reality, and this proposal is no different. Such scare tactics basically pander to the lowest-common-denominator voters out there, giving them yet another feel-good measure that accomplishes nothing much besides giving everyone else a headache. Because it clearly is something that any rational person would conclude cannot be properly carried out unless those who are asking for it do not understand the very nature of the Internet.
But more to the point, it generally reflects a disconnect between those of us who spend our a large part of our lives on this new global network, and the aging population who stopped discovering new things back around the time Faulty Towers was popular (but who very much still vote, once again as evidenced by their decision to leave the EU, when the whole thing was really an anti-immigrantion ploy) and are content with BBC2 programs on the telly.
Again, the sole purpose of these types of legislative measures is to escape blame, look strong on what's considered 'bad behavior', distract people away from the actual and real pressing issues that would take a lot to address, and get more votes (whatever it takes).
In about a week, Europe will vote for the exact opposite
Kids who grew up with internet porn now have kids, these parents won't care much if their children watch porn, it is way of life.
Responsible parents could arguably control Internet access for their children from their house, but not so easily from e.g. WiFi hotspots or libraries.
Can you imagine some spotty 13year kid knocking one out in the local library, oh the headlines in the local newspaper.
Having websites act as parents isn't an efficient solution. Teach parents how to use decent parental control software and about the importance to monitoring what their children do online (not just porn) would be far more effective.
This issue will probably get less over time as the current generation of internet and computer illiterate parents are gradually replaced by the next generation that grew up with the internet and won't need a state sponsored course in this.To be honest I think one of the bigger issues is every parent buying their child a laptop each, yeah it can be great for entertainment and education but at least with a family computer it's in a place where you can see what they're doing without having to spy and it'd be very embarrassing to be caught looking at porn in the dining room or kitchen.
I think I know and/or have a plan for managing the internet when I have kids, and while the first time they go on a porn site won't immediately lead to punishment it will at least allow me to know that a conversation about it is necessary as well as discussion on an age when it might be appropriate.
If you're ashamed to do it then don't do it Or fully live your shame.
study found that 60% of the world's porn was hosted in America
I knew America was still number 1 at something.
Don't waste your vote! Vote for whoever you want, unless you live in a swing state it won't matter anyways
give credit card details to a porn site,
you're pulling my dick!
Go well
Seriously, is there a better way to collect thousands of CC numbers than this?
Well, in Jamaica they burn you in the street for being gay. In most Islamic countries it's a state-sponsored execution.
So, relatively speaking, a few old people trying not wanting to bake cakes for gay weddings is a homosexual utopia.
Yeah, where's the verification bill requiring that car companies prove people have a driver's licence before operating their vehicles? One of these leads to wanking, the other leads to death....
It's not by preventing kids from knowing about sex that you'll be protecting them.
To verify that you've reached puberty, you need to upload a dick pic to the pornsite, so they can check that you've got hair on your balls.
The mistake we make is in judging political entities by the liberties they endorse.
Instead we should recognize that all political entities believe in regulating the behaviors they believe are counter-productive to their world view or they believe prevent achieving their goals.
I cannot think of a single problem that would be solved by this.
"Yeah, it's all fish fingers and custard"
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
To verify age you need ID. "robust" deez nuts. They want to track you. To see genitals just look down. Everybody has them.
Unless I'm missing something, how exactly do they plan to enforce this for overseas sites?
/quote>
Use their position in the EU to enforce it against the 26% of porn hosted in the Netherlands, as well as other locations in the EU.... oh, wait ....
Thanks, I'll be here forever. Try the veal.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Rather than requiring foreign sites to adapt, the ISP level porn blockers could be adapted to do this: require an account's owner be age verified. How you separate access from an authorised machine at a home address from one which is not is another matter, but I doubt it's that hard. My worry is that this is more of a political stunt to win votes from conservative votes with tradition-derived anti-sex attitudes, and to try and win the religous vote to the Tories away from Labour: compassion and care for the poor vs anti-porn/sex/gay policy. Sensible followers of religion should be more interested in the former, but I fear the latter is more easy to motivate political support for amongst those (swing voters) who would waver between Lab and Con at an election. In additon, those who care about the ability to access porn for people who are not underage are likely too small a minority to have an effect at the ballot box.
John_Chalisque
Seriously, what the hell is this supposed to do, aside of pretty much kill the only industry in Britain that's not been hit by the Brexit already? Nobody outside the Isle of Splendid Isolation gives halve a fuck about their laws, so the only thing this will affect is that porn providers outside GB will cater to British tastes more in an attempt to attract Brits as customers.
And of course any and all porn in Britain will do what the rest of the industry already does: Pack up and leave.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
> Nobody outside the Isle of Splendid Isolation gives halve a fuck about their laws
They aren't actually alone on stuff like that. Germany has been trying to figure how to push age-ratings on web sites (like they do on video games and movies) for some time.
Unworkable, impractical, interfering, and quite authoritarian. Typical of the braindead Tory politician.
While I believe porn can cause a lot more harm than most people seem to think, I am totally against this kind of crap. It is just a way to get some control. Then more control. The creep never ends.
On a positive note, I think she has figured out how to employ all the people who lost their oil related jobs, and also all the job losses from Brexit. In fact, she could probably employ almost every human on the planet trying to keep up with this. Is someone going to re-evaluate the website after every update? Like each time a new story is posted on Slashdot? Each time someone makes a new comment?
Only 10% of the site's viewers are below the age of 18? I thought that figure would be higher. I remember when I was under 18, I looked at porn. But then, high speed internet with HD video and large photos were not around. I saw some freshmen or sophomores 9-10 graders looking at Playboy or Penthouse magazine right outside of my school's entrance. Just saying.
factors for choosing a coffee shop
1 price
2 location
3 type and quality of coffee
4 "social" factors
5 environmental factors
6 other items available
7 formats/ presentation of goods
and thats just a cup of coffee
Apparently no politician anywhere on the planet understands even basic technology, let alone how the internet works. You can't dictate things like this to websites that are owned and wholly hosted outside the borders of your country. Therefore your 'morality legislation', like all 'morality legislation', falls flat on it's face right out of the gate. Even China's 'great firewall' isn't 100% effective and opens the door to all sorts of abuse of it's abilities.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again: at the rate things are going, we're going to end up with NO internet at all, only 'walled gardens' within national borders, that are utterly useless for anything serious due to lack of connectivity and too many controls, along with a useless substitute for actual encryption.
Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
Yeah, where's the verification bill requiring that car companies prove people have a driver's licence before operating their vehicles? One of these leads to wanking, the other leads to death....
I've yet to see a dealer not demand to see your license, and make a copy of it, before letting you get into a car.
Also your insurance, the last few I've got have checked that too, and told me I needed to check with the insurance company.
And I think, but I'm not sure, but they also had to tell me to go register my vehicle.
My libraries WiFi and desktops seem to be pretty locked down. Never tried to access porn there but I did get kicked off for trying to upload a zip file to a ftp site.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_totalitarianism
It is really good to see that the Tories, having fixed that pesky EU brexit problem, have moved on to the next important issue already.
It just shows what they are really after - now, with the EU regulations possibly out of the window, they can get rid of stupid commie crap like worker protections, human rights or privacy protections. Let's do everything to make the rich even richer and screw everyone else.
I assume using someone else's credit card without authorization is a crime in Great Britain.
If it's not, well, nevermind then.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
They once seemed popular enough in the US where an age-verification service would take a CC before letting you in. It probably wasn't mandatory, but was one of those "implement it or a law will be passed to make it mandatory, depending on your State" things.
So, what happened? Is it just that more pr0n is free now and no one cares? Why did AVS as a "thing" stop?
I find it amusing how conservatives, who are usually the most energetic at raging against regulations and the mommy state, are the most eager to impose mountains of regulations, draconian censorship and generally the mommy state on the public in order to regulate other people's sexual behaviour. I
This goes for conservatives (Republicans) in the US as well. They're against regulation of businesses, but they sure are happy about regulating people's personal life..
If you want to save children from being exposed to the "evils" of the Internet, just ban anyone under 18 from accessing the Internet.
Restrict it to adults, like alcohol and tobacco.
If someone under 18 accesses the Internet, punish both the child and his parents, who should have prevented the access.
If a child needs information, such as for a school assignment, he can go to the library and read a book, just like in the old days before the Internet.
Well, as the saying goes, "There is no such thing as a sane Conservative".
I don't know if that is a saying. It should be. It has that weight to it.
I don't think I have ever seen a single Conservative that isn't full-blown fucking weird, broken or so removed from general society.
They should be locked up in mental asylums, not elected to run the fucking country.
Even after everything that has happened with the Conservatives in the UK, those old idiots will still likely re-elect them because "they are protecting muh pension!", OH, WAIT.
Changing tax laws and deliberately keeping their income low for a while so they can truthfully say "I will not benefit from this", then just HAPPEN to get a sudden wage increase that puts them in the bracket. NOPE, not collusion at all!
All those disabled people in work? Yeah, scrap that welfare, they don't need to be working, damn cripples.
In fact, let's scrap the whole welfare system, why help people in to work? Fuck'em.
But we better stop them looking at porn, that's the devils work!
Seriously, go watch an interview with Claire Perry, the person behind the UK filter project. She's a generic whacko like the rest of them. She is one of those idiots that thinks the government need to do everything for them. She should have her kids taken off her, the actual cunt, just like the rest of them for blaming others for their mistakes.
The internet is an exact metaphor for city-exploration. There are some parts only adults and mature people should enter. There are some places only for kids and parents. Letting your kid walk a city on their own is irresponsible. Especially if you don't TEACH them about the things you are trying to keep them away from.
Gotta ban all the things so my kids can grow up to be 40 year old virgins and maladjusted people. (which is true of most people that grow up in such homes, poor kids)
My post would be an arrestable offence under a UK-without-EU Tory-lead UK.
Absolute scum of the highest order. All of them.
It's time to get out if you like questioning things.
I didn't say that Merkel was any better than Cameron. Actually, for someone who allegedly studied physics he's a pretty big dimwit.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
I've yet to see a dealer not demand to see your license, and make a copy of it, before letting you get into a car.
Also your insurance, the last few I've got have checked that too, and told me I needed to check with the insurance company.
And I think, but I'm not sure, but they also had to tell me to go register my vehicle.
License, yes. Insurance, you can just call your insurance company while you're there and tell them you've done it and they go "okay!" Registration, yes, and they usually file it for you.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
While it's true that the Tories are hypocritical and all kinds of dumb, you'll be sharply disappointed if you expect anything better from Labour.
Listen out for the shadow home secretary speaking against this idea. Or anyone in the shadow cabinet, really. I believe a lot of tumbleweed will blow by before you hear it.
Age verification? What a joke.
Why not introduce opening times for the internet?
Anyway, there is more porn available through torrents and magnet links than you can watch. Without ANY age verification...
Here in Germany we do it the other way around:
To register a car, you have to show proof of insurance first.
And a bank account, where the tax is withdrawn from automatically.
That's why almost all cars have insurance here.
The dealer yes, how is he the car company? The ISP knows you're an adult, they have a signed contract with you, like the dealer does. I never signed anything with Mazda for my last car.
Is this some strange American thing where all the cars are owned by the car company and you only purchase the right to use them?