Slashdot Mirror
Porn Websites in UK Ordered To Introduce Age Checks From Next Year (bbc.com)
Reader dryriver shares an article: A nine-month countdown to the introduction of compulsory age checks on online pornography seen from the UK has begun. The April 2018 goal to protect under-18s was revealed as digital minister Matt Hancock signed the commencement order for the Digital Economy Act, which introduces the requirement. But details as to how the scheme will work have yet to be finalised. Experts who advised ministers said the targeted date seemed "unrealistic". The act also sets out other new laws including punishing the use of bots to snatch up scores of concert tickets, and mandating the provision of subtitles on catch-up TV. The age-check requirement applies to any website or other online platform that provides pornography "on a commercial basis" to people in the UK. It allows a regulator to fine any business that refuses to comply and to ask third-party payment services to withdraw support. The watchdog will also be able to force internet providers to block access to non-compliant services.
Visits to foreign-hosted porn sites from the UK mysteriously skyrocket after 2018/04. VPN services experience a slight bump as well.
And once again, the Tories fail to get that the Internet does in fact extend beyond the borders of the United Kingdom.
In other words, good luck with getting XHamster to implement an age check.
Of course, with these age checks, the sites themselves (and the government) will have a permanent, verifiable record of what kind of things you look at online. Which, as we know from the history of the surveillance state, almost always ends up "leaked" when it has the potential to embarrass somebody...
Proud neuron in the Slashdot hivemind since 2002.
To implement. I meant to say hard to implement.
DaveyJJ
They must be prudes themselves Well, what’s gonna happen is that the rest of the world will firewall limeys instead.
>Are aged 18 or over?
Yes!
>OK. You may enter, figuratively.
I should use this sig to advertise my book ISBN-13 : 978-1501515132.
When websites try to use these filters you know what happens, the Hon'ble Minister name is printed as Matt Han****
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
The US has had this requirement for more than a decade.
"I don't know, therefore Aliens" Wafflebox1
The slippery slope of censorship and surveillance in the UK is continuing at a disturbingly predictable path. The ISP level blocking mechanisms are already implemented and in production. Now it's just a matter of adding more sites, and control more of what citizens are allow to watch. Theresa May wants government back-doors in social network and communication apps. Not revealing your encryption key and password can land you in jail for years.
First they filtered child molestation.
Then they came for the pirate sites.
Then they blocked communication of terrorists.
Then it was any mature content.
Next? Opposing political opinions? Full ban on naked body images of any kind? All encrypted communication blocked and illegal without a back-door?
Why do I get the feeling this is funded by British "newspapers" like The Sun and others that have titties inside?
Either to increase their sales or just they're getting bored of constantly trying to convince the UK to abandon it's healthcare system and be more like the health utopia that is the US.
Sales of US based VPN's to people in the UK double in a matter of weeks.
Another politician who does not have a clue about the internet.
I'd rather be riding my '63 Triumph T120.
IF YES CLICK HERE!
Downmodding is the refuge of the weak. Don't downmod, make a better argument!
Once more, politicians showing their complete ignorance of the way Internet works. But, extra points to the UK in its efforts to become a police state.
Sure, the credit card idea, seems sound, it's not like you can access valid credit card info anywhere online...after they complete this project they should solve Mozilla’s decentralize the internet challenge then figure out how to stream music online without it being downloadable, cheers mate!
You jest, but you are right on point. The laws are already in place, the technical implementations are already in place. Now it's just a matter of taking the next step into full totalitarian dictatorship.
In fact, if it wasn't for Theresa May being so utterly repulsive, she would have managed this backed by a landslide elected victory. If UK ever gets a charming leader, like Putin or Hitler (both also initially elected and with high approval ratings), it'll be a slam dunk.
Can someone explain to me why teenager seeking porn should be prevented from finding it?
A government is a body of people notably ungoverned - AC
Umm... Hitler wasn't elected.
"So long and thanks for all the fish."
Come to think of it if you replace nazis with the word tories you get a similar situation to Theresa May's election. Though I am unsure if there is any actual difference between a nazi and a tory.
* checks wikipedia *
Nope none at all it seems.
This kind of ignorant policy making is annoying because for it to actually work at all the following must be true:
Implement a global white list for all of the internet (AKA absolute censorship and 1x10^-9999999% of sites available)
Of course what they will actually do is approach it through legislation which will do about fuck all because UK !== internet... but a small piece of me wants them to attempt absolute censorship so the idiots in parliament can see first hand what a bunch of fucking pillocks they all are as they realise it would mean self destruction of the UK economy. Don't meddle with what you don't understand... oh wait that's basically the definition of politics, yes this shit makes me very cynical.
The Honourable Minister for Extreme Stupidity said it was a price worth paying, despite the fact that Twitter etc would be exempt.
Sent from my ASR33 using ASCII
I hope the age check is like the old Leisure Suit Larry age check quiz.
. .
My first sexual experience was looking (and...) at the lingerie pics. They never asked if I was over 18. I feel cheated by the unregulated world I had to live in.
A price worth paying... hanging that asshole from his nuts might hurt, but ensuring that at least he can't pass on his stupidity is a price worth paying.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
When Mnsiter Conroy (Labor) tried to introduce internet censorship a few years ago the outcry was so large and pervasive that they had to back down They did not do so lightly, the saga went on for years. Conroy did everything to force it through. But then an election loomed and it was dropped.
The current conservative Liberals would love to introduce it, but having watched Conroy burn they do not dare. (Things could be different if they ever did really well in the polls.)
The UK public, on the other hand, just rolled over. We do not quite have the tabloid press that they do though.
(Not to say all is well down under, surveillance, etc. is hot. But we value their porn far more than our British cousins. )
(Conroy is a devout catholic, who having left parliament took up a job lobbying for the poker machine industry.)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
I note that Will Gardner (Childnet CEO) says: "Protecting children from exposure, including accidental exposure, to adult content is incredibly important, given the effect it can have on young people,".
So will he also be pushing to protect children from other types of web site that can have effects on them ? I am thinking of religious sites. The views expressed on these can cause considerable trauma; think of the effect of seeing the views expressed about homosexuality on a young gay boy ? Or how about the views expressed about people of different, or no, faith ?
You think my brain on porn is bad, you should see it on a 16 year old girl.
The U.K. has a land border with the Republic of Ireland and a border with the Kingdom of Spain.
It may even have one with the French Republic because of the tunnel