Porn Websites in UK Ordered To Introduce Age Checks From Next Year (bbc.com) 105
Reader dryriver shares an article: A nine-month countdown to the introduction of compulsory age checks on online pornography seen from the UK has begun. The April 2018 goal to protect under-18s was revealed as digital minister Matt Hancock signed the commencement order for the Digital Economy Act, which introduces the requirement. But details as to how the scheme will work have yet to be finalised. Experts who advised ministers said the targeted date seemed "unrealistic". The act also sets out other new laws including punishing the use of bots to snatch up scores of concert tickets, and mandating the provision of subtitles on catch-up TV. The age-check requirement applies to any website or other online platform that provides pornography "on a commercial basis" to people in the UK. It allows a regulator to fine any business that refuses to comply and to ask third-party payment services to withdraw support. The watchdog will also be able to force internet providers to block access to non-compliant services.
This just in... (Score:5, Insightful)
Visits to foreign-hosted porn sites from the UK mysteriously skyrocket after 2018/04. VPN services experience a slight bump as well.
And in other news (Score:2)
Sales of US based VPN's to people in the UK double in a matter of weeks.
Another politician who does not have a clue about the internet.
Re:And in other news (Score:5, Insightful)
Sales of US based VPN's to people in the UK double in a matter of weeks.
The US?
With their crazy laws, insane president and that extradition treaty... Hell no, I'll just use the same Norwegian end point I use to access torrent sites.
Our conservative government may be batshit insane but the US's makes our government look well and truly grounded in reality.
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Yea- no. Sorry. UK takes the cake when it comes to batshit insane. It's right next California, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and all of the lower states in the USA. Different reasons each may be insane, but none-the-less. The UK leads the way in terms of being batshit insane when it comes to theft of people's means (ie taxes are nothing more than theft by one group of people to boost that of another), privacy, freedom, security, and liberty.
Sorry, but that takes the Batshit Insane award of the week.
Taxation isn't theft, taxation pays for civilisation. It pays for roads, emergency services, the military, education, health care and many other things.
Imagine how much roads would cost if you had to pay tolls for every single one of them. That would be real theft. Just think about health care US compared the UK. In the UK the government pays US$4400 per person per year to provide the world class NHS. In the US, the government pays US$9000+ an
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"slight bump".
I see what you did there.
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Well, I'm waiting for the family, friends, relatives and enemies of UK MPs to get plastered with emails and snail-mails inquiring if they are old enough to be viewing, "Double-Headed Dildo Robot Wars", "The Homeopathy of Spanking Enema Nuns", and "Rum, Sodomy, The Lash, Assorted Farm Animals, and a Oxford Men-Only Dining Club for Former Prime Ministers."
How long will it take for MPs' addresses to "mysteriously disappear" . . . ?
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They already go well past that https://www.theguardian.com/po... [theguardian.com]. Necrophilia with a dead pigs head in some other blocks lap, what do they touch, some where in the back of the head and not to forget the Beeb https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]. We all know what exactly this is, the whoops censorship laws. Whoops we censored you, when you shouldn't have, don't worry post the 90 day appeal process you'll be back up again and whoops. The way to silence the political opposition and activists. They never do anythi
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Visits to foreign-hosted porn sites from the UK mysteriously skyrocket after 2018/04. VPN services experience a slight bump as well.
What makes you think this isn't already the case? I cant think of a single major porn site that is located in the UK.
Most already have an age gateway that asks if you're 18 (because there's no lying on the interwebs, right). Asking for anything more than that will be a spectacular failure.
Clueless (Score:5, Insightful)
And once again, the Tories fail to get that the Internet does in fact extend beyond the borders of the United Kingdom.
In other words, good luck with getting XHamster to implement an age check.
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Have you never been to an alcohol related website? They ask if you are 21 or older, you click yes, or no. It's not a check at all. Unless this is being ran through government records and you have to verify your identity in some fashion, there is no possible way they can check someones age or even verify their identity over the internet.
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Unless this is being ran through government records and you have to verify your identity in some fashion...
One proposal is to require credit card information. Apparently, in the U.K. a credit card indicates 18+. This, of course, presents some concerns.
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This is correct. In the UK, you have to be 18 to sign the credit agreement required by a normal credit card, but a prepaid card is not in fact extending you any credit and thus doesn't require a credit agreement. You can get a prepaid card before you're 18.
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Merchants can easily tell the difference between a pre-paid card and an actual credit card, so I imagine pre-pay cards will simply not be accepted. The first six digits of the card number is a code called the BIN number which you can look up to tell you amongst other things whether a card is a credit, debit, or prepaid card.
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Only if they have to.
They don't give a flying fuck about the UK's moral theater.
In fact, they may not give a fuck about the law. "Even if *IF* you tell EVERY one of your ISPs to block us, your country is like 1.5% of our revenue."
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...prepaid cards don't pass the same checks - it's not just that you can enter a card number - it's that you can enter a CREDIT card number. To have one of those, you need to:
1) Be 18
OR
2) Steal your dad's card number
Given that most porn isn't even a UK business, I see this having an effect on maybe 0.1% of the porn available on the internet.That weird kid in school is still going to have loads of it on his phone and will be ready to trade - same as it ever was.
Re:Clueless (Score:4, Funny)
Up next: UK Internet to be separated from the "pool of filth" that the worldwide Internet is. To be replaced by "clean, healthy and non-degenerate UK contents". Also, UK borders to be closed in both direction and to be secured by mine-fields and auto-guns (know-how comes from former GDR experts) to protect UK people from wandering into dangerous rest-of-the world areas.
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Up next: UK Internet to be separated from the "pool of filth" that the worldwide Internet is.
Not entirely sure what you mean with "Up next". Story from May 20th [slashdot.org]
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You have a point.
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Also, UK borders to be closed in both direction and to be secured by mine-fields and auto-guns
Geography is not your strong point, is it? There is a reason that Britain has not been invaded in nearly a thousand years: the reason is deep, cold and wet.
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You seem to be unclear on my historic reference and that in particular the GRD border was entirely designed to keep people in.
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I know, anybody would think we had a land border with another country that has in the past century been hostile to us.
Oh, wait.
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Also, UK borders to be closed in both direction and to be secured by mine-fields and auto-guns
Geography is not your strong point, is it?
You seem to think that the UK = England, it's unclear what you might have to add to the conversation
Land borders of the U.K. (Score:2)
The U.K. has a land border with the Republic of Ireland and a border with the Kingdom of Spain.
It may even have one with the French Republic because of the tunnel
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Up next: UK Internet to be separated from the "pool of filth" that the worldwide Internet is. To be replaced by "clean, healthy and non-degenerate UK contents". Also, UK borders to be closed in both direction and to be secured by mine-fields and auto-guns (know-how comes from former GDR experts) to protect UK people from wandering into dangerous rest-of-the world areas.
Pretty good summary of the Brexit mindset there.
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And good luck with getting e621.net to implement that as well.
Uh? Oh, a... friend told me about it.
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MSG is bad for you, mmmkay?
With the added bonus (Score:5, Insightful)
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Re:With the added bonus (Score:5, Insightful)
To be fair last time we had a hardline fundamentalist Christian like Theresa May able to do shit like this called Jacqui Smith it was her husband's porn habits that got leaked.
It was quite funny watching her fall to her husband's secret porn viewing habits which he paid for using her parliamentary expenses as she waged a crusade against porn.
If she had any sense she'd have claimed it as research into ease of access, but thankfully like most hardline religious zealots she was astoundingly dumb, though for whatever reason the BBC seems to randomly help her with her crusade by giving her air time about the topic now and then.
But really this is the type of shit we're going to get more of thanks to Brexit - many leading Brexiteers are also hardline fundamentalist Christians like May, and without the European Courts to protect us against their particularly vile brand of fascism it'll be a free ride for them on issues like this. That's why the Rees-Moggs of the world and such are so desperate to prevent May falling and to avoid any kind of compromise.
Going to be hard, I imagine ... (Score:2)
Why do people vote for prudes? (Score:2)
Answer this: (Score:2)
>Are aged 18 or over?
Yes!
>OK. You may enter, figuratively.
Does the Hon'ble Minister know this? (Score:2)
What took the UK so long? (Score:2)
The US has had this requirement for more than a decade.
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And what a difference it's made!
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Pornhub never asks me.
Maybe they just know me as a regular.
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Pornhub never asks me.
Maybe they just know me as a regular.
You'd better check out their "Real Live Amateur Hidden Camera Videos" section . . . maybe they just know you as a star . . . ?
"If you are old enough to act[sic] in this film, then you are probably old enough to watch it."
Slipper slope (Score:5, Insightful)
The slippery slope of censorship and surveillance in the UK is continuing at a disturbingly predictable path. The ISP level blocking mechanisms are already implemented and in production. Now it's just a matter of adding more sites, and control more of what citizens are allow to watch. Theresa May wants government back-doors in social network and communication apps. Not revealing your encryption key and password can land you in jail for years.
First they filtered child molestation.
Then they came for the pirate sites.
Then they blocked communication of terrorists.
Then it was any mature content.
Next? Opposing political opinions? Full ban on naked body images of any kind? All encrypted communication blocked and illegal without a back-door?
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You jest, but you are right on point. The laws are already in place, the technical implementations are already in place. Now it's just a matter of taking the next step into full totalitarian dictatorship.
In fact, if it wasn't for Theresa May being so utterly repulsive, she would have managed this backed by a landslide elected victory. If UK ever gets a charming leader, like Putin or Hitler (both also initially elected and with high approval ratings), it'll be a slam dunk.
Re: Slippery? More like actively greased. (Score:2)
Umm... Hitler wasn't elected.
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Come to think of it if you replace nazis with the word tories you get a similar situation to Theresa May's election. Though I am unsure if there is any actual difference between a nazi and a tory.
* checks wikipedia *
Nope none at all it seems.
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You missed a step inbetween. There is already a ban on a lot of extreme pornographic content [wikipedia.org] even if it is occurring between two consenting adults.
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When facing the choice of having a pedo, pirate and terrorist against me or the state, I choose the former. The potential damage is lower and the chance to get out alive and on top are way higher.
Conspiracy (Score:3)
Either to increase their sales or just they're getting bored of constantly trying to convince the UK to abandon it's healthcare system and be more like the health utopia that is the US.
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Probably because you're (I'm assuming) an American for whom titties in a newspaper would be a national crisis.
I mean I'm sure UK folk like a good pair of titties as much as the rest of us, but equating a single weekly topless photo with internet porn is.. a little silly.
If anyone, it would be more the likes of Playboy or Hustler or other offline (actual) porn.. though of course the porn industry has long been at the head of the pack when it comes to adopting technology so they likely aren't interested in fi
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Probably because you're (I'm assuming) an American for whom titties in a newspaper would be a national crisis.
Right on both, but I personally have no problem with it. It's the only part of those newspapers I agree with.
I mean I'm sure UK folk like a good pair of titties as much as the rest of us, but equating a single weekly topless photo with internet porn is.. a little silly.
I wasn't equating them, I'm just guessing that the Daily Mail's brains would say "Hey, we can increase sales by banning internet porn maybe?"
R U 18?!? (Score:2)
Laughable (Score:2)
Good Luck (Score:2)
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Because the parents of teenagers like to forget (or occasionally remember too well) what it was like to be teenagers, and somehow manage to convince themselves that hormones will magically stop production if their precious children aren't told the "other" use for those bits between their legs. Roll it up into some infamously anti-sex religious fanaticism and you've got a ripe set of stupid laws just waiting to be written.
Really, all of it is kind of stupid. There are certain aspects to porn (online or not
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Slashdot screwing up my formatting and me not using preview is also a thing. Dammit.
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As a parent, I can somewhat sympathise. I mean, if my kids search online for some pictures of people with no clothes on, then ostensibly that's not too bad. I mean, they may get unrealistic expectations of how they and others should look, but hey ho - to some extent that's a manageable problem.
The problem with the Internet is that in doing that search/viewing, there's a very good chance you're also going to be exposed to some content that's way, way more hardcore than you're ready to see or think about. The
This means a great firewall of UK I presume? (Score:3)
This kind of ignorant policy making is annoying because for it to actually work at all the following must be true:
Implement a global white list for all of the internet (AKA absolute censorship and 1x10^-9999999% of sites available)
Of course what they will actually do is approach it through legislation which will do about fuck all because UK !== internet... but a small piece of me wants them to attempt absolute censorship so the idiots in parliament can see first hand what a bunch of fucking pillocks they all are as they realise it would mean self destruction of the UK economy. Don't meddle with what you don't understand... oh wait that's basically the definition of politics, yes this shit makes me very cynical.
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You are really missing the point... this is supposed to stop kids visiting porn on the internet... (kids) the fastest to learn how to manipulate computers, compared to any other average citizen. You cannot block international sites, and kids will go there if they please, just like they use torrents and VPNs for everything else the UK already blocks. That's why it does have to be a white list, which of course nobody would seriously condone if they inderstood the consiquences. It's a foolish attempt in either
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The Honourable Minister for Extreme Stupidity said it was a price worth paying, despite the fact that Twitter etc would be exempt.
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A price worth paying... hanging that asshole from his nuts might hurt, but ensuring that at least he can't pass on his stupidity is a price worth paying.
Larry Quiz (Score:2)
I hope the age check is like the old Leisure Suit Larry age check quiz.
There was a German Otto catalog in the 90s (Score:2)
Proud to be Australian (Score:2)
When Mnsiter Conroy (Labor) tried to introduce internet censorship a few years ago the outcry was so large and pervasive that they had to back down They did not do so lightly, the saga went on for years. Conroy did everything to force it through. But then an election loomed and it was dropped.
The current conservative Liberals would love to introduce it, but having watched Conroy burn they do not dare. (Things could be different if they ever did really well in the polls.)
The UK public, on the other hand,
Other harmful web sites as well ? (Score:2)
I note that Will Gardner (Childnet CEO) says: "Protecting children from exposure, including accidental exposure, to adult content is incredibly important, given the effect it can have on young people,". [bbc.co.uk]
So will he also be pushing to protect children from other types of web site that can have effects on them ? I am thinking of religious sites. The views expressed on these can cause considerable trauma; think of the effect of seeing the views expressed about homosexuality on a young gay boy ? Or how about the
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You think my brain on porn is bad, you should see it on a 16 year old girl.