Ofcom is issuing industry guidance which sets out the tech adult websites must use to check ages.

Summary

Under the UK’s Online Safety Act, all websites hosting pornography, including social media platforms, must implement “robust” age verification methods, such as photo ID or credit card checks, for UK users by July.

Regulator Ofcom claims this is to prevent children from accessing explicit content, as research shows many are exposed as young as nine.

Critics, including privacy groups and porn sites, warn the measures could drive users to less-regulated parts of the internet, raising safety and privacy concerns.

  • Paddzr@lemmy.worldEnglish
    14·
    17 hours ago

    Oh it does.

    Kids have access to phones and data. No matter how good my DNS is, means fuck all if my son can use his data (if he was old enough to have phone) and browse, under UK, he can’t easily access the most common porn sites without verifying.

    As open and pro porn internet social bubble might be. I’m not okay with my son gaining access to it easily and too early.

    At times, I wish there were more adults and parents online to counter the sea of basically male teenagers pushing what they think isright. And I know I’ll get a “I’m a parent of 3, porn is healthy for them!” Type of response… And that’s irrelevant. We all are raising a human being and we all have different morals and ideas. There’s zero chance I’ll consciously allow a loophole before he turns 12.

    • AWildMimicAppears@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      11·
      3 hours ago

      Your personal morals should not be the basis of laws that invade the privacy of every last person in the country, including your sons. Don’t you think that educating your son on sex, porn and reasonable usage (depending on age) would be an approach that would foster an atmosphere of trust and responsibility in the relationship between you and your child, making a law unnecessary? The way you seem to handle it just a) makes most kids curios and b) will make kids just hide their behaviour (and they will be seeing stuff, since most kids gain access in one way or another, and they share proudly for clout). Don’t forget that the best liars come from very strict homes.

      • Paddzr@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        5 minutes ago

        They’re clearly not solely my morals. Why should your morals be the basis of things being unrestricted? What privacy do you have left exactly? Who is this hurting? It’s all fun and games throwing big phrases around while we use everything tied to a name anyway.

        If you’re using a VPN and are truly a person that values their internet privacy, this doesn’t effect you, does it?

        And if by this we limit who porn is marketed to? Then fuck yeah. Same as gambling. There needs to be barrier of entry.

        Bold of you to assume all that of my parenting habits, here lies the biggest issue with debating anything on the internet, people jump at extremes. Because the slightest bit of grey area and the ideology falls apart.

        So let’s take it for a spin shall we? Why should your morals stop me from stealing or hurting you? After all, it’s just as illegal. Why should we stop kids from buying alcohol, it’s illegal for shop to do it, do you also shout at cashiers asking for your ID? What about that privacy?

        It’s silly and as my original comment predicted, you’re exactly the type of person I expected to see here. Ultimately, we’re all balancing life, even wild west had rules.