The porn industry is going to be changing in a big way. After years of delays and discussions, age verification is about to be introduced on all pornographic websites accessed from the UK.
These requirements come as part of the Digital Economy Act and are due to come into force imminently. The government hasn’t announced an official date but it’s expected they will start enforcing the changes in April.
Under the Act, websites that host pornographic content will be required to stop UK users from accessing pictures, videos, and text unless they can prove they’re over 18. This is being introduced by the government as a way to stop children viewing explicit content online but, people are worried about the security of user data collected for verification purposes.
How will the system work?
When a UK IP address attempts to access a pornographic website, the person browsing will have to verify themselves. It’s up to the individual porn website itself to implement the technology that allows people to prove their age but the main requirement is that, once the website has been opened, it has to show a static landing page that doesn’t feature any overt images.
What are your options?
A survey of 25,000 conducted by xHamster, the UK’s 3rd largest adult site, found that just over half of people asked (53%) were aware that this changes are to take place before the end of this year.
A third of the people who participated plan to comply with the regulations while a quarter said they will not – leaving around 40% unsure.
They were asked how they planned to respond to these new restrictions and 40% replied with the VPN (Virtual Private Network) option which will make it seem as if they’re visiting the site from a different country. A small 4% said they will use a borrowed passcode to access the porn sites and 18% claim to give up porn altogether.
Some people are willing to verify their identity and 13% of them said they will use a driver’s license, another 13% will use a credit card, 12% will use a mobile phone, and 5% will use a passport.
There is also an option for a kiosk card, or a ‘porn pass’, which can be bought from a small shop for around £5, and allows users to access pornographic sites anonymously.
Data privacy
A big issue for people are worrying about are privacy concerns over data. Nearly 75% of respondants said this was a major concern of theirs, with the fear of government intrusion being another worry at 63%.
MindGeek, who are the company behind Pornhub, RedTube, and YouPorn, said it wouldn’t be storing data from their verification process.
If businesses don’t make sure that viewers are 18 and over, they can face a hefty fine of up to £250,000 as part of the UK government’s new Digital Economy Act.
