UK government to implement age verification on porn sites by April 2018

Shawn Knight

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The UK government is moving forward with plans to implement provisions outlined in the revised Digital Economy Act which achieved Royal Assent in April. Digital Minister Matt Hancock on Monday signed the act’s commencement order, dictating that, among other things, websites hosting adult content must soon verify that visitors are of legal age to view such content.

By verify, I don’t simply mean that they’ll be required to ask visitors to enter their (not real) birth dates.

The new age verification process, expected to be in place by April 2018, hasn’t been fully hammered out but could resemble methods used by gambling sites. For example, those surfing for porn may be required to provide credit card details to verify their age as credit cards can’t be legally issued to minors.

While welcomed news for some, it’s certain to ruffle the feathers of others.

Digital Minister Hancock said the Digital Economy Act is about building a strong, safe and connected economy, adding that it will secure better support for consumers, better protection for children on the Internet and underpin a radical transformation of government services.

Will Gardner, CEO of Internet safety charity Childnet, concurs. The executive said protecting children from exposure – including accidental exposure – to adult content is incredibly important given the effect it can have on young people.

Jim Killock, executive director of Open Rights Group, isn’t quite convinced. Killock believes age verification could lead to porn companies building databases of the UK’s porn habits which could be vulnerable to Ashley Madison-style hacks.

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Jim Killock, executive director of Open Rights Group, isn’t quite convinced. Killock believes age verification could lead to porn companies building databases of the UK’s porn habits which could be vulnerable to Ashley Madison-style hacks.

I'm so sick of this argument. Just because 1 website out of like a million porn sites got hacked doesn't mean every website is now a danger. I really doubt some hacker is going to steal the credit card info of site users and publish it to embarrass people instead of using the numbers for spending money.

I'll bet the adult site users are cool with this too. Just think - they now already have the card numbers of users who visit their site! it'll keep people tied to a single site where they created an account and if they want to pay for something it's as easy as clicking - no typing in numbers.
 
Jim Killock, executive director of Open Rights Group, isn’t quite convinced. Killock believes age verification could lead to porn companies building databases of the UK’s porn habits which could be vulnerable to Ashley Madison-style hacks.

I'm so sick of this argument. Just because 1 website out of like a million porn sites got hacked doesn't mean every website is now a danger. I really doubt some hacker is going to steal the credit card info of site users and publish it to embarrass people instead of using the numbers for spending money.

I'll bet the adult site users are cool with this too. Just think - they now already have the card numbers of users who visit their site! it'll keep people tied to a single site where they created an account and if they want to pay for something it's as easy as clicking - no typing in numbers.

I'm sorry, but this reads like such a naive comment in so many levels.

I hope it's just sarcasm.
 
I really don't understand the point of this. To me, kids being curious is perfectly healthy. Goodness knows in the US we don't properly teach it in schools, sex is taboo to talk about for whatever reason.

Let the kids watch porn, steal beer from their parents and ask the seniors in highschool to buy them cigarettes.

What good does shielding kids and teenagers from stuff their going to be exposed to anyway do for society?
 
What gets me is that it's totally ok for kids to look at violence in every facet. It's fine for your children to see someone get beaten or even shot! But don't let them see boobs!

It's a really messed up world that sex is worse than violence!
 
Not to worry .... robot sex is coming quickly (no pun intended ... much) so we'll only have to buy the instructional cartridge and turn them loose on your kids .... of course, if you think you're going to have problems getting those 18 year olds out of the house; you ain't seen nothing yet!!!
 
Many porn-site devs will just move their servers overseas where they don't have to put up a CC wall.

Useless legislature. Not only encouraging crooks to put up CC phishing porn sites, yes this is the future when people expect to proffer their CC's for free content, and exposing millions to 3rd party hacking but also totally un-enforcable. Waste of taxpayers money on every level. *****ic and naive.

The coin would better be spent on real sex education in schools, education that explores emotional and social ramifications, rather than just biological facts.
 
I really don't understand the point of this. To me, kids being curious is perfectly healthy. Goodness knows in the US we don't properly teach it in schools, sex is taboo to talk about for whatever reason.

Let the kids watch porn, steal beer from their parents and ask the seniors in highschool to buy them cigarettes.

What good does shielding kids and teenagers from stuff their going to be exposed to anyway do for society?
So long as the kids, both boys and girls, understand that porn sex and porn relationships aren't to be emulated as the norm in real life. Boys especially should know that expecting gang bangs and anal sex, all without a condom or lube and on brief acquaintanceship, will not go far to attracting a girl friend or having a healthy long term relationship.

But back to the main story, like everyone else I think this is stupid and just politicians playing to the gallery, easily bypassed with a VPN, and are any major online porn sites based in the UK anyway?
 
What gets me is that it's totally ok for kids to look at violence in every facet. It's fine for your children to see someone get beaten or even shot! But don't let them see boobs!

It's a really messed up world that sex is worse than violence!

That's bang on. We let them watch acts that are destructive to members of the species and freak out when the act is productive or reproductive in this case. Had to sign up after reading this.

From the perspective of someone who had peddled ***** online in the past I love the idea. Having visitors as pre-qualified purchasers of porno instead of deadbeats gets me salivating like a Pavlovian dog. A similar strategy was attempted by George Bush back in 2004 but Visa informed him that since they give 12 year olds credit cards this plan won't work.

Publishing some *** = sleezy but giving minors credit cards knowing they are literally not developed enough to understand credit = good business. BTW the card companies do this knowing that because the children have their parents as cosigners they have to pay off all the debt so they don't ruin their own credit.
 
Umm has anyone realised that children if they really need to they can pinch their parents CCs and have them back before they know it's gone ???? another excuse at getting IDs through the back door ,,,again ,,sigh
All this will do is alienate those adults that are afraid of using their CC as ID and the kids that don't care about using their parents CC ,, SIGH!!
 
Seems like there would be easy ways to get around this. You could just use a VPN that shows you're in another country, or just access porn sites that AREN'T hosted in the UK.
 
Credit cards are for making payments. I will never use anything that could be exploited for profit as age verification. I have identification in the form of drivers license. If that is not enough for age verification, then I don't need to be visiting the site in question.
 
I really don't understand the point of this. To me, kids being curious is perfectly healthy. Goodness knows in the US we don't properly teach it in schools, sex is taboo to talk about for whatever reason.

Let the kids watch porn, steal beer from their parents and ask the seniors in highschool to buy them cigarettes.

What good does shielding kids and teenagers from stuff their going to be exposed to anyway do for society?

Agreed. Better to have them understand (god forbid, enjoy?) experimentation rather than condone it and keep it underground.

When I lived in Amsterdam almost none of the locals smoked pot. The vast majority of the people in the headshops or coffeshops (bars) were foreigners. Same idea here.
 
I really don't understand the point of this. To me, kids being curious is perfectly healthy. Goodness knows in the US we don't properly teach it in schools, sex is taboo to talk about for whatever reason.

Let the kids watch porn, steal beer from their parents and ask the seniors in highschool to buy them cigarettes.

What good does shielding kids and teenagers from stuff their going to be exposed to anyway do for society?

They wouldn't be exposed to it so easily if this was in place. If you don't understand the moral and psycological effects from children exposed to porn then you are to far gone. You can be brought back to the light side, but not until you stop agreeing with satan in your ear.
 
They wouldn't be exposed to it so easily if this was in place. If you don't understand the moral and psycological effects from children exposed to porn then you are to far gone. You can be brought back to the light side, but not until you stop agreeing with satan in your ear.
When I started reading that post I thought you actually had a valid point to make, but by the end I don't want you contributing to regulations on how I can raise my kids
 
I should hand over my credit card number to a Porn site, that by it's nature is likely to criminal ???? Are they insane?
 
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