British government to police Internet porn starting July 15

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April 18, 2019 | Online

British government to police Internet porn starting July 15

Internet It has been a long time coming, but the United Kingdom says it is finally ready to start blocking online porn from minors.

Starting July 15, 2019, new age restrictions will be enforced. Websites that allow anyone under 18 to view adult material could have their payment services suspended and may even be blocked by Internet Service Providers (ISPs).

"Adult content is currently far too easy for children to access online," argued Minister for Digital Margot James. "The introduction of mandatory age-verification is a world-first and we’ve taken the time to balance privacy concerns with the need to protect children from inappropriate content.

"We want the UK to be the safest place in the world to be online and these new laws will help us achieve this."

Well, if that's true then why not block all the hate speech and violence on social media? It's called priorities, people!

By the sounds of it, British users will be faced with different age verification systems depending on the site they are visiting. AgeID is one of the biggest verification providers; it is being run by porn giant MindGeek, the company behind everything from Men.com to PornHub.

"When a user first visits a site protected by AgeID, a landing page will appear with a prompt for the user to verify their age before they can access the site," explained James Clark, an AgeID spokesperson. "Each website will create their own non-pornographic landing page for this purpose."

Clark added:

"First, a user can register an AgeID account using an email address and password. The user verifies their email address and then chooses an age verification option from our list of 3rd party providers, using options such as Mobile SMS, Credit Card, Passport, or Driving Licence.

"The second option is to purchase a PortesCard or voucher from a retail outlet. Using this method, a customer does not need to register an email address, and can simply access the site using the Portes app."

One issue is how sites will choose which verification service to use, and how users will feel if they have the register with multiple companies. There is also the issue of privacy and how user data will be protected.

You'd think they UK government would be more focused on that whole Brexit thing before making it harder to see some bouncing boobs and delicious dicks! In fact, Brits could really use some sexy distractions right now!