ID checks for online pornography come into effect on July 15
The government has absolutely no chill, and has introduced compulsory age verification checks for online porn, which come into effect next month. We already know the ban is stigmatising and will negatively impact creators, but now a new report has confirmed that the checks will also be a privacy nightmare.
Describing the age verification scheme as “pointless and misleading”, privacy watchdog Open Rights Group has criticised the government’s unfair system that will ultimately be “a scammer’s paradise”.
In place from July 15, the identity checks will stop under-18s from visiting adult sites by forcing any commercial provider to implement “robust” age checks, or risk sanctions. Those over-18 wanting to access porn will have to input ID details, including passport or credit card info. There’s also the very cool, very normal option of going into your local off licence and buying a porn pass.
The new report describes the data protection in place as “vague, imprecise and largely a ‘tick box’ exercise”. With estimates suggesting 20 million adults in the UK watch porn, countless people’s data could be at risk.
Previously addressing concerns, the government claimed it has ensured that age verification providers will meet GDPR requirements, while the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) has created an age verification certificate – meaning all providers will have data security standards checked. However, Open Rights Group asserts the scheme isn’t balanced, giving companies the ‘option’ to implement privacy standards, rather than strictly enforcing it.
“Due to the sensitive nature of age verification data, there needs to be a higher standard of protection than the baseline which is offered by data protection legislation,” executive director Jim Killock said in a statement. “The BBFC’s standard is supposed to deliver this. However, it is a voluntary standard, which offers little information about the level of data protection being offered and provides no means of redress if companies fail to live up to it.”
The scheme has already been heavily criticised, and given 76 per cent of Brits have no idea the porn block is even coming into place, there’s bound to be more backlash when July 15 rolls around.
“The government needs to shape up and legislate for privacy,” Killock previously stated, “before their own policy results in people being outed, careers destroyed or suicides being provoked.”
