UK Plans Age Verification for Porn Websites

Megalith

Megalith

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Starting April 2018, porn surfers in the UK may have to prove their age using a credit card: websites will be legally required to install age verification controls by that date as part of a move to make the internet safer for children. These rules are part of the country’s new Digital Economy Act, which also includes a crackdown on ticket bots and new subtitling requirements for video on demand services.

"All this means that while we can enjoy the freedom of the web, the UK will have the most robust internet child protection measures of any country in the world." Will Gardner from internet safety charity Childnet said: "Steps like this to help restrict access, alongside the provision of free parental controls and education, are key." An NSPCC report in 2016 said online pornography could damage a child's development and decision-making and had been seen by 65% of 15-16 year olds and 48% of 11-16 year olds.
 
We will also require a webcam be on at all times to authenticate that there are no children in the area, and regular biometric & retinal scans to make sure the adult is still there and the webcam footage isn't being spoofed. All forms of printed and recorded pornography are now illegal, be it on physical media or saved digitally, as we can't track who's looking at them. So now we need need 100% access to all internet connected devices at all times, fully unencrypted, to make sure you don't have a saved pornographic video or image in Timmy's tablet. All households and businesses are required to subscribe to internet access, and have webcams pointed in every direction, and streaming to us at all times, so we can keep the children safe.
 
Yeah I have no idea how this is going to work. I'm betting it will get quietly dropped in 6 months time. Not the first time this has happened.

Either that or a huge uptake in pre-paid credit cards with just £1 on them.
 
and this is even remotely inforceable on non UK based websites how?

Are they going to route all their internet traffic through China to hide behind the great firewall also?

Google images. Is that going to take a credit card to use? Forums? Chan sites?

Personally, I do think porn can screw up a kid, but this isn't the way to prevent that. This is a "Look! Your government fixed a horrible problem that is IMPOSSIBLE to solve with parenting skills!"
 
Next up UK stops all crime by making it illegal to break the law. "From this day forward any criminal activity shall carry a sharp verbal reprimand. We expect all illegal activity to cease immediatly. Thus to save money we are disbanding all police forces and the entire judicial system."

That's about as realistic. This has to be a money grab by the "verification" system companies. Now thier business is mandated by the government.
 
mord said:
and this is even remotely inforceable on non UK based websites how?

Are they going to route all their internet traffic through China to hide behind the great firewall also?

Google images. Is that going to take a credit card to use? Forums? Chan sites?

Personally, I do think porn can screw up a kid, but this isn't the way to prevent that. This is a "Look! Your government fixed a horrible problem that is IMPOSSIBLE to solve with parenting skills!"
Click to expand...

Yes all those snuck Playboy's totally ruined me as a kid. Messed me up so bad I've been married for 19 years..
/s
 
Think what Ms. May is going to require before people can watch ultra-porn. Poor professor Farnsworth...
 
daglesj said:
Yeah I have no idea how this is going to work. I'm betting it will get quietly dropped in 6 months time. Not the first time this has happened.

Either that or a huge uptake in pre-paid credit cards with just £1 on them.
Click to expand...

I don't know how they do them in England, but I am not sure that kind of information is available on a pre-paid card. In other words, those cards might not work for this purpose. What seems strange to me is that they are using a credit card instead of a government issued ID card. Aren't you essentially making millions of people vulnerable to Credit Card Identity Theft because when these sites get hacked or an insider runs off with a data base dump, all that CC info will be there.

Sounds stupid to me. Or, perhaps this is a move to force porn sites into the Paid-Service variety only and free sites will be forced to stop serving data to UK locations if they can't meet this requirement. I am just thinking that for this to work, the sites will have to spend some cash and if they can't make enough it'll drive them all into a pay for service model.

#EDITED: It also means that people have to be willing to stand up and say "I watch porn" because there are going to be databases of data for sale with people's real names and identities and frankly it will drive many people away from such sites. It will work against anonymous viewing of pornography.

I think this what they are really doing?
 
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WONT SOMEBODY THINK OF THE CHILDREN?! The poor hopeless children with blue balls that can't get off from natural human hormones because government wants to regulate their access to material?
 
jpm100 said:
You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means
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List em!

I bet its fewer than using words like and, but, the, is and at.

Oh done it.

6-7 times over 8 years.
 
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To protect the children... please give you credit card number to the least reputable companies in the land. A little lot of fraud is a small price to pay for a solution that won't solve anything... cause of course sites with illegal material are 100% above board and are going to conform to this law... with the amount of porn on the net I can't imagine this will really keep any UK kids from accessing porn.

Yes VPN use will likely go up... UK companies are not likely going to be required to get credit card numbers from none UK users. VPN from another country will likely solve that.

It will be interesting to see if they can actually make such a thing work.
 
lcpiper said:
how is that going to help?

VPN won't change the requirement that the site will be forced to place on their service.
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I figured it would work something like this.

IP from UK > require CC verification
IP from elsewhere > come on in
 
Dekoth-E- said:
Yes all those snuck Playboy's totally ruined me as a kid. Messed me up so bad I've been married for 19 years..
/s
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Married to the same woman for almost 20 years that is messed up, time to seek professional help.

/s

lol next up banning SEX ed classes in grade schools in the UK because you know it promotes teenage pregnancies.

/s
 
I'm totally sure all those non-UK based porn sites are going to jump right in and follow their guidelines.
 
I'm sure none of those kids will write down their parents' CC info and keep it "handy".
lol
Glad to hear the British have solved all of their socio-economic problems and are now tackling internet porn.
 
yadnom said:
I figured it would work something like this.

IP from UK > require CC verification
IP from elsewhere > come on in
Click to expand...


Ahh, perhaps so. I was only thinking of it for it's security functionality and not thinking of spoofing the source IP.

But, I still am leaning hard on what this actually is supposed to accomplish and I think I had it pegged earlier. I don't think it's about keeping little Johnny off of porn sites. I think it's about pressuring free porn sites into adopting a subscription model or closing their virtual doors. As most men already know, we don't want to pay for it ..... :ROFLMAO:

If all sites that serve porn to the UK are forced to adopt credit card based age verification, it is going to cost more money to operate and the free-to-watch model is going to loose some profit margin and then many customers are just going to refuse to sign up for fear that they will become known consumers of questionable content.

I think the UK wants to force most of the free porn sites to either shut their doors or switch to a pay model. Either way they win and the porn companies that already run a pay service, they win as well because they don't have to compete with the free sites.
 
That picture...*sound of two logs being knocked together*

Real story, Toronto Zoo circa 1998, walking up to the tortoise enclosure I hear this *knock-knock* and low hissy groan, a pause and repeat. I get around the path to see two tortoises knocking shell as a boy of about 4 or 5 years of age runs over with his dad in tow and asks, "Daddy? What is that turtle doing to the other turtle?" The father's response, "He's being a savage!", as he quickly turns the boy about and heads over to the next exhibit.

To this day I get a shit grin and giggle inside whenever I see a tortoise/turtle! :ROFLMAO:
 
In order to protest this all websites in the US should blackout their front pages and cover them in porn.
 
Forget about the children, this is a hackers wet dream. All that credit card information being tossed around in what is most likely an already compromised browser.
 
So, what verification systems will they use to ensure they are safe and secure and not fraud sites that will just take your info..
 
MrGuvernment said:
So, what verification systems will they use to ensure they are safe and secure and not fraud sites that will just take your info..
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It will probably be a one time system that's created by the government or whom ever they make the head of this movement. People will have to put in their valid info and this will give them a name or number that will be their online presence and a password. It will act as their means to travel the internet as a verified adult. But only the one place will have their CC info and valid credentials
 
lcpiper said:
how is that going to help?

VPN won't change the requirement that the site will be forced to place on their service.
Click to expand...

But you can connect to porn sites in other countries that don't require age verification... Was that not obvious?
 
squash said:
I'm totally sure all those non-UK based porn sites are going to jump right in and follow their guidelines.
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That's not a problem since UK ISPs are required to filter non-complying sites.
 
RMCO said:
But you can connect to porn sites in other countries that don't require age verification... Was that not obvious?
Click to expand...

No, not at all.

What, you can't connect to foreign sites without a VPN ?
 
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