Pornhub Owner May Become the UK's Gatekeeper of Online Porn (yahoo.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Yahoo News: Mindgeek may be the most powerful company that you've never heard of, or at least, a company you'll claim never to have heard about in polite company. It's the conglomerate that owns some of the world's most visited porn sites, including Pornhub, RedTube and YouPorn. Far from simply being a popular and free way for people to consume adult content, it may soon have a powerful political role in the UK that will ensure its dominance for decades to come. That's because, within the next year, Mindgeek may become the principal gatekeeper between the country's internet users and their porn. In April, the UK passed the Digital Economy Act 2017, legislation that mandated that any website showing adult content must verify the ages of its visitors. It was pushed through in response to concerns that children were being corrupted by easy access to and exposure to adult content at an early age. Section 15(1) of the bill requires that "pornographic material" not be published online, on a "commercial basis," unless it is "not normally accessible by those under 18." The bill has several flaws, not least the number of vague proposals it contains, and the ad hoc definition of what pornography actually is. Section 17 of the same act outlined the creation of an "age-verification regulator," the digital equivalent of a bouncer standing between you and your porn. This gatekeeper will have the right, and duty, to demand you show proof of age, or else refuse you access. In addition, the body will be able to impose fines and enforcement notices on those who either neglect or circumvent the policy. [...] The Open Rights Group believes that the BBFC will then hand over the actual mechanisms of the age verification platform to a third party in the private sector. Mindgeek has had several conversations with officials and is currently pushing its own age verification platform, AgeID. If selected, this platform could become the principal wall between Britons and their pornography -- giving Mindgeek enormous power in the market.

Comments

This will go well

[Anonymous Coward]

I mean they already banned piracy and that doesn't happen anymore right?

Re: This will go well

[Anonymous Coward]

Porn is inherently a private thing that most people would tend to keep from their SO. It's human nature. So why in world would anyone participate in a program that verifies their identity, age, and arguably other PII so that there is now verifiable proof of said private activity?? This will just drive porn further underground and into illicit sources or even the dark web.

Re: This will go well

[Anonymous Coward]

The OP already answered that question, circuitously.

(1) In 2004 the UK Cleanfeed System was introduced. The UK public was told that Cleanfeed would never be used for censorship, and only had a specific mandate to block child abuse image content.

(2) UK bans access to The Pirate Bay and blocks torrent sites using BT's cleanfeed system. UK filesharers start to use VPNs to evade blocking.

(3) The Investigatory Powers Act 2016 requires all UK web activity to be retained by ISPs. Non-filesharing UK citizens start to use VPNs to prevent state surveillance.

(4) Now the Digital Economy Act 2017 seeks to expand the cleanfeed system to all pornography. As with the original torrent site blockade, VPNs will become the default method to access such content.

Re:Well the UK Parliament protects pedos, so what?

[Jarwulf]

Yes this is a tory government, but nowadays antiporn and antiprostitution stuff is carried out just as much if not more by the feminist crowd than the conservative religious crowd since the UK is more secular than ever.

Re: If you wanted to get rid of porn

[c6gunner]

I think your idea of "porn" is stuck in the 80s. You think can girls and couples putting on live shows for fans care about copyright?

Getting rid of copyright laws wouldn't do a damn thing towards eliminating porn; it would just change the landscape slightly.

''children were being corrupted''

[Alain Williams]

If that is what they are worried about, why have they not banned religious web sites; IMHO those are far more damaging than porn: they claim to present truth (without much evidence), then say that a bunch of people are bad: those of other religions (or none), gays, divorcees, ...; discourage free or rational thought, condemn evolution and generally denounce any sex out side marriage, ...

Many kids have their minds screwed up by religion.

Re:''children were being corrupted''

[Falconnan]

Sex: A healthy part (though optional) of a normal, functional human being's life.

Violence: A destructive aspect of life which is not a part of a functional human being's life under the vast majority of circumstances.

Guess which we need to restrict the visibility of according to the "God-fearing" crowd?

Though in fairness, porn is not a very accurate portrayal of sex.

Re:''children were being corrupted''

[dargaud]

Teaching atheism ? Huh ?!? You are an atheist when you are born, and you stay this way unless 'taught' a religion with a belt or endless rote learning sessions.

Re:1984, privatized

[Anonymous Coward]

"Unlike Winston, she had grasped the inner meaning of the Party’s sexual puritanism. It was not merely that the sex instinct created
a world of its own which was outside the Party’s control and which therefore had to be destroyed if possible. What was more important was that sexual privation induced hysteria, which was desirable because it could be transformed into war-fever and leader-worship. The way she put it was:
’When you make love you’re using up energy; and afterwards you feel happy and don’t give a damn for anything. They can’t bear you to feel like that. They want you to be bursting with energy all the time. All this marching up and down and cheering and waving flags is simply sex gone sour. If you’re happy inside yourself, why should you get excited about Big Brother and the Three-Year Plans and the Two Minutes Hate and all the rest of their bloody rot?’"

You're welcome.

Re:1984, privatized

[SuricouRaven]

Brave New World's approach to sex was the polar opposite of that in 1984. BNW's society embraced sex - and took that to an extreme, with the intent of removing all consequence and meaning. In BNW, sex is something that even casual acquaintances do together because they both enjoy it, and so why not? Monogamy is viewed as selfish to the point of perversion, because it asserts a level of ownership over a partner. Pornography is not just permitted, but encouraged.

A modern audience probably finds this rather less dystopian than at the time of publication.