GRcade

BBC News wrote:People in the UK will have to prove they are 18 before being allowed to access pornography websites from next year, the government is to announce.

Websites will be legally required to install age verification controls by April 2018 as part of a move to make the internet safer for children.

Users may be asked to provide credit card details, as gambling websites do.

Companies breaking the rules set out in the Digital Economy Act face being blocked by their internet provider.

Under the plans, firms supplying payment and other services to the pornography websites could be notified about any breach.

A regulatory body will be asked to oversee and enforce the new rules.

It is thought this could be the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) which already sets age limits for films.

The BBFC used to rate the suitability of computer games for certain ages but Pan European Game Information (PEGI) now does this.

'Most robust protection'

Digital minister Matt Hancock will formally begin the process, which was the subject of a 2016
consultation during David Cameron's government, in a written statement to the Commons later.
Mr Hancock said: "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.

The study found 28% of children may have stumbled across pornography while browsing, while 19% had searched for it deliberately.

Karl wrote: Amazing....

Two experts who advised the government on its plans have expressed reservations about both how quickly the scheme is being rolled out and its wider implications.

"It seems to me to be a very premature date," commented Dr Victoria Nash, lead author of a report commissioned in the run-up to the law being drafted.

"The idea you can get a regulatory body up and running in that timeframe seems extraordinary to me.

"And while I don't have a problem with asking these companies to act responsibly, I don't see it as a solution to stopping minors seeing pornography."

This, she explained, was because the Act does not tackle the fact that services including Twitter and Tumblr contain hardcore pornography but will not be required to introduce age-checks. Nor, she added, would teens be prevented from sharing copied photos and clips among themselves.

"It may make it harder for children to stumble across pornography, especially in the younger age range, but it will do nothing to stop determined teenagers," Dr Nash concluded.

One cyber-security expert on the same advisory panel was more critical.

"The timeline is unrealistic - but beyond that, this is one of the worst proposals I have seen on digital strategy," said Dr Joss Wright from the Oxford Internet Institute.

"There are hundreds of thousands of websites where this material can be accessed and you are not going to catch all of those.

"There's privacy issues - you're requiring people to effectively announce the fact they are looking at this material to the credit card authorities.
"And there's serious security issues from requiring people to enter their credit card details into untrusted sites.

"They may well say there will be other magical ways to do the age check, but I very much doubt they will be non-discriminatory [against adults without credit cards], transparent, privacy-preserving and secure for end-users."

jawafour wrote:

Karl wrote: Amazing....

Karl, will you be implementing similar measures for GRcade content? I guess that you'll need my credit card details if I want to view live Wii U Gamepad action?

Users may be asked to provide credit card details, as gambling websites do.

Lotus wrote:I don't think the government actually knows how the internet works. So many discussions seem to be had or policy ideas created that just don't make sense and aren't workable.

Anyway, on this one, from what I understand it's only UK sites that it would apply to. I don't know what proportion of porn sites are UK-based, but I'd wager it's a drop in the ocean. Don't see how this stops little Timmy wandering onto pornhub.