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Online Pornography Age Checks To Be Mandatory in UK From 15 July (theguardian.com)
The UK's age verification system for online pornography will become mandatory on 15 July, the government has confirmed. From a report: From that date, commercial providers of online pornography will be required to carry out "robust" age verification checks on users, in order to keep children from accessing adult content. Websites that refuse to implement the checks face being blocked by UK internet service providers or having their access to payment services withdrawn.The digital minister, Margot James, welcomed the introduction of the rules, saying: "Adult content is currently far too easy for children to access online."
She added, "The introduction of mandatory age verification is a world first, and we've taken the time to balance privacy concerns with the need to protect children from inappropriate content. We want the UK to be the safest place in the world to be online, and these new laws will help us achieve this." Will Gardner, the chief executive of Childnet, said: "We hope that the introduction of this age verification will help in protecting children, making it harder for young people to accidentally come across online pornography, as well as bringing in the same protections that we use offline to protect children from age-restricted goods or services."
She added, "The introduction of mandatory age verification is a world first, and we've taken the time to balance privacy concerns with the need to protect children from inappropriate content. We want the UK to be the safest place in the world to be online, and these new laws will help us achieve this." Will Gardner, the chief executive of Childnet, said: "We hope that the introduction of this age verification will help in protecting children, making it harder for young people to accidentally come across online pornography, as well as bringing in the same protections that we use offline to protect children from age-restricted goods or services."
Basically yes. You will have to sign up to a third party verification service (like the one owned by MindGeek, no conflict of interest there...) which will require photo id. There was talk of an "anonymous" option where they would see "porn passes" at the local corner shop for a tenner with a special code used to create the verification account, and the cashier is responsible for the age verification; Not sure if that is still planned or not.
Facebook login of course. The site will connect you once it has verified that the age associated with your Facebook account is high enough, and will contact each of your Facebook friends to get additional verification.
Once verified, to ensure you don't have to repeatedly re-validate your age, the adult site will store subscription information on Facebook itself, together with any relevant interests, fetishes, etc.
It's all perfectly simple, and I know Facebook has been working on making this as easy as possible. Both Zuckerberg himself, and the Russian government - which found the proposals very impressive - have been speaking privately to MPs to explain how the system will work and reassure them of its effectiveness.
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.