UKs Porn Pass law has just passed, will go into affect in July

[Master Disaster]

Starting July 15th any website where more than a third of its hosted content is pornography or any website which hosts pornography and makes money through charging a fee or advertising will be legally obligated to verify the age of anybody trying to access them from the UK.

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An age-check scheme designed to stop under-18s viewing pornographic websites will come into force on 15 July.

From that date, affected sites will have to verify the age of UK visitors.

 

 

But critics say teens may find it relatively easy to bypass the restriction or could simply turn to porn-hosting platforms not covered by the law.

 

Twitter, Reddit and image-sharing community Imgur, for example, will not be required to administer the scheme because they fall under an exception where more than a third of a site or app's content must be pornographic to qualify.

 

Likewise, any platform that hosts pornography but does not do so on a commercial basis - meaning it does not charge a fee or make money from adverts or other activity - will not be affected.

Failure to comply will result in the offending sites being blocked by ISPs.

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If they fail to comply they will face being blocked by internet service providers.

Originally the plan was to fine website owners however this would be hard to enforce however ministers have made it clear they will look at fines and other possible measures in the future.

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It had originally been proposed that pornographic services that refused to carry out age checks could be fined up to £250,000. However, this power will not be enforced because ministers believe the threat to block defiant sites will be sufficient and that trying to chase overseas-based entities for payment would have been difficult.

 

However, the government has said that other measures could follow.

 

"We know that pornography is available on some social media platforms and we expect those platforms to do a lot more to create a safer environment for children," a spokesman for the Department of Digital Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) told the BBC.

 

"If we do not see action then we do not rule out legislating in the future to force companies to take responsibility for protecting vulnerable users from the potentially harmful content that they host."

The BBFC will have ultimate responsibility for the the action, they will be able to have sites that don't obey blocked. Ultimately how the age is verified will be left up to the sites but there will also be a "reward" mark made available for sites that offer "robust data protection schemes".

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The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) - which gives movies their UK age certificates - will be responsible for regulating the effort. It will instruct internet providers which sites and apps to block for non-compliance. In addition, it can call on payment service providers to pull support, and ask search engines and advertisers to shun an offending business.

   

The pornographic platforms themselves will have freedom to choose how to verify UK visitors' ages.

 

But the BBFC has said that it will award solutions that adopt "robust" data-protection standards with a certificate, allowing them to display a green AV (age verification) symbol on their marketing materials to help consumers make an informed choice.

 

One digital rights campaign group questioned the sense of this scheme being voluntary.

 

"Having some age verification that is good and other systems that are bad is unfair and a scammer's paradise - of the government's own making," said Jim Killock from the Open Rights Group.

 

"Data leaks could be disastrous. And they will be the government's own fault."

 

Mindgeek, one of the adult industry's biggest players, has developed an online system of its own called AgeID, which it hopes will be widely adopted. It involves adults having to upload scans of their passports or driving licences, which are then verified by a third-party.

Adults will be able to purchase "porn passes" from registered shops to verify their age face to face.

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High street stores and newsagents will also sell separate age-verification cards to adults after carrying out face-to-face checks, according to the government.

 

Dubbed "porn passes" by the media, the idea is that users would type in a code imprinted on the cards into pornographic websites to gain access to their content.

 

The BBFC has said it will also create an online form for members of the public to flag non-compliant sites once the new regulations come into effect.

 

"We want to make sure that when these new rules are implemented they are as effective as possible," commented the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC).

 

"To accomplish this, it is crucial the rules keep pace with the different ways that children are exposed to porn online."

 

The age checks form part of a wider effort by the UK's authorities to make the internet safer to use for young people.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-47960775

 

Fucking hell my country sucks. Honestly it won't be long until the UK has its own great firewall.

 

I honestly think the age of the free internet is starting to end. I reckon in a decade or two the internet will be a VERY different thing.

[Nocte]

July 2019 arrives: usage surge of VPN applications in the UK

[myselfolli]

The UK is wack. Like anybody will actually upload a photo of their ID when they're horny. Or go to a corner shop and physically buy a 'porn pass'.

 

Also VPNs are a thing that exists...

[jiyeon]

Well, at least this country has the balls to actually implement a legislation for once...

[Master Disaster]

2 minutes ago, Nocte said:

July 2019 arrives: usage surge of VPN applications in the UK

Until now they've said they won't ban VPN, let's see how long it is until that changes.

[myselfolli]

Just now, seoz said:

Well, at least this country has the balls to actually implement a legislation for once...

I bet that's why the Brexit is taking forever. They're too busy banning porn (and they may really need a long breath for that, people tried - and failed - banning porn from the internet before)

[myselfolli]

I just did some (very quick) reading up on internet censorship in the UK, this is kinda scary actually. Also ISPs in the UK are assholes:

 

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Categories blocked across the major ISPs include: [...] Hacking and Web-blockingcircumvention tools

^ Taken straight from Wikipedia.

 

Edit: Not just assholes, but also dumbasses

 

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Legitimate sites are regularly blocked by the filters of some UK ISPs and mobile operators. [...]

Examples of overblocked categories reported include:

• sex education and advice on sexual health
• help with sex and pornography addiction
• support services for rape and domestic abuse
• child protection services
• suicide prevention
• libraries
• parliament, government and politicians
• drug advice

If you're gonna block websites you deem to be harmful in any way, at least do it properly and not also ban the websites that are trying with the problem...

Edited April 17, 2019 by myselfolli

[Steven123123]

what is the motivation/force behind this? were parents marching in the street or was there some religious lobby? or something else?

[Master Disaster]

5 minutes ago, myselfolli said:

I bet that's why the Brexit is taking forever. They're too busy banning porn (and they may really need a long breath for that, people tried - and failed - banning porn from the internet before)

They don't want to ban it from the Internet though, only from the UK and unfortunately they can do that.

 

Kind of ironic the former PM who came up with these plans is marred in rumours of beastiality at college.

 

Originally these plans were to protect woman from sexual violence by banning violent porn however that failed dismally (probably because most of the lord's are the biggest consumers of that kind of porn) so it was rebranded to protect children and forced through parliament that way.

[Taja]

New job in the UK: porn hacker. 

Be ready to make money, bois.

[Bouzoo]

So basically, the population of people born on 1.1.19x0 will increase tenfold. 

How will this even work? 

[Bouzoo]

1 minute ago, Taja said:

New job in the UK: porn hacker. 

Be ready to make money, bois.

Or just torrent XXX (not the Vin Diesel movie). 

[Master Disaster]

1 minute ago, Steven123123 said:

what is the motivation/force behind this? were parents marching in the street or was there some religious lobby? or something else?

A former prime minister was ousted as doing beastiality at college so he went on a rampage trying to block "extreme porn". That failed so the plans were rebranded to protect children instead.

 

Nobodies gonna argue against protecting children, only problem now is the slippery slope. Now they have the power to block porn sites at the ISP level they'll use it.

[myselfolli]

Just now, Bouzoo said:

So basically, the population of people born on 1.1.19x0 will increase tenfold. 

How will this even work? 

Well you apparently don't only have to put in your age, you actually have to verify it (by uploading some kind of ID or purchasing porn passes in brick and mortar stores)...

[Master Disaster]

1 minute ago, Bouzoo said:

Or just torrent XXX (not the Vin Diesel movie). 

Torrent sites are already blocked here and ISPs will cut users Internet off if they download pirated content.

[RedRound2]

It's so dumb how these lawmakers waste time and money on such pointless endeavours that nobody should really care about, and then be complete idiots when it comes to bigger issues like climate change, renewables, etc.

 

And tbh, it's not going to work. If a teen wants to watch porn, they'll know how to get around all these dumb hurdles that these people think are effective. It is NOT going to stop people from watching porn

[Bouzoo]

34 minutes ago, Master Disaster said:

Torrent sites are already blocked here and ISPs will cut users Internet off if they download pirated content.

Is that so? Wow that sucks. And if it's like in germany (according to few buddies), vpn won't help. 

[Master Disaster]

1 minute ago, RedRound2 said:

It's so dumb how these lawmakers waste time and money on such pointless endeavours that nobody should really care about, and then be complete idiots when it comes to bigger issues like climate change, renewables, etc

Climate change and renewable energy cost money.

 

It won't be long until porn passes cost £10 for a month.

[Bouzoo]

1 minute ago, RedRound2 said:

It's so dumb how these lawmakers waste time and money on such pointless endeavours that nobody should really care about, and then be complete idiots when it comes to bigger issues like climate change, renewables, etc

It's all about control. I am pretty sure they don't have same people working on those same things, like focus all people on that 1 subject. 

But I agree, it's pointless. 

[RedRound2]

11 minutes ago, Master Disaster said:

It won't be long until porn passes cost £10 for a month.

But who is actually going to get that. Watching porn is a guilty pleasure and no one likes to oust themselves as watchers by providing photo ID, age proof and your credit card details. Smaller sites will soar and piracy will increase tenfold, which would in fact have the opposite effect in the long term by endangering people more due to unverified sources and possibly illegal content

[crosstiger]

Suicide rates in uk rise to 100%

[myselfolli]

1 minute ago, crosstiger said:

Suicide rates in uk rise to 100%

But you can't look up how to kill yourself online, since that too is blocked blocked by your IPS

[XR6]

Why bother doing this? It's absolutely useless.

What the government haven't realized is that it's extremely easy to get around this, which effectively renders this law useless.

The porn pass is a thing that absolutely nobody will buy. The government don't seem to understand that everyone that watches porn doesn't want other people to know they watch it, so why the hell would they go out into public to buy a porn pass?

It makes absolutely no sense to me why this is a thing.

[crosstiger]

1 minute ago, myselfolli said:

But you can't look up how to kill yourself online, since that too is blocked blocked by your IPS

I guess then attempted suicide rate rises to 100%?

[myselfolli]

Just now, crosstiger said:

I guess then attempted suicide rate rises to 100%?

Well they may actually be succesful, since you also can't look up how to help somebody who just tried to commit suicide....

 

This is starting to sound like a really bad joke ._.