Teenagers will be locked out of porn sites or any other site that has X-rated material.
This comes after a group of leaders in the UK raised a concern on the growing number of underage students wasting most of their time on sites. The Conservative Party manifesto commits that “all sites containing pornographic material must check that users are over 18.”
Schools, social media companies, parents and other stakeholders have been urged to contribute on the ongoing fight and consultation.
However, an expert claims that the fight against porn on free sites will be very hard. In the consultation document, the UK government proposes that the checks should apply to content that would receive – if formally classified – an 18 or R18 rating from the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC).
“We are keen to hear from parents, schools, child protection experts, the pornography industry, internet service providers and online platforms that provide access to pornographic content,” the consultation document explained.
The UK government urged policy makers not just in the UK, but across the world to come up with a new regulatory framework to enforce compliance with any rules that are made law.
Just as we do offline, we want to make sure children are prevented from accessing pornographic content online which should only be viewed by adults,” said Baroness Shields, the Internet Safety and Security Minister.
People believe that the ban or regulation of porn sites is a matter of urgency. Peter Wanless, chief executive of the NSPCC said “the issue was a matter of urgency and that children who had ready access to content rated over 18 could develop a warped view of sexual relationships.”
Regulators have been given the mandate to force internet service providers to block sites that did not perform effective age checks. In addition, the regulator of age checks on porn sites could be given powers to impose sanctions like fines.
Free porn sites
A security researcher claims the fight might not be successful.”My initial response to this release is that while the UK government may get some traction with payment processors, and that that could have some effect, it won’t affect the free pornography,” said Dr Gilad Rosner, a member of the Cabinet Office Privacy and Consumer Advocacy Group.
Dr Rosner added that much pornographic content was available on free sites and blogs which do not take any payments from users.
“I would wager that we won’t see much in the way of tangible results for the next five years,” he said, “This is a particularly challenging regulatory goal.”
The good news is; Pornhub is willing to comply and place strict checks on the site. “Pornhub will comply fully with any robust legislative and relevant local measures that emerge from this consultation,” said a spokeswoman for the site.
“As members of the Digital Policy Alliance, we have already been working to carve out a technical solution which works for all.
“It’s essential that all explicit adult content is covered, and non-compliant sites are quickly taken down.”