Proposed UK Internet age verification system

With the passing of the Digital Economy Act 2017, the United Kingdom became the first country to pass a law containing a legal mandate on the provision of an Internet age verification system. Under the Act, websites that published pornography on a commercial basis would have been required to implement a "robust" age verification system to prevent minors from accessing their sites.[1][2] The regulator would have been empowered to fine those who fail to comply up to £250,000 (or up to 5% of their turnover), to order the blocking of non-compliant websites, and to require those providing financial or advertising services to non-compliant websites to cease doing so.[3] After a series of setbacks, the planned scheme was eventually abandoned in 2019.[4]

Delays and setbacks

The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) was planned to be charged with enforcing the scheme.[5][6][7] The implementation of the law was initially delayed multiple times to allow the BBFC to draft and receive approval for official guidelines regarding the age verification requirements.[8][9] Following the passage of the Online Pornography (Commercial Basis) Regulations 2019 (which established a legal definition for the types of websites that would be subject to the requirements), implementation was again rescheduled, this time for a planned start date of April 2019.[2] In March 2019, reports stated that there was still no firm date for the implementation of this policy, which had been beset by many technical problems.[10] A BBC report at the time described implementation of the scheme as being "in a holding pattern".[11]

Key issues with the implementation included what constituted an effective means of age verification, as well as concerns over the possibility that online age verification providers could collect excessive personally identifiable information and process it for other purposes—potentially in violation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).[12] "AgeID", a service proposed by internet pornography company MindGeek, was singled out by critics due to concerns that offering this service could unduly enhance its market position.[9][13] The BBFC suggested that a system of gift card-like vouchers, purchased in person with ages checked by the retailer (identically to other age-restricted purchases such as alcohol) could provide a more anonymous and secure solution to age verification.[14]

Technical concerns included the use of VPNs[15] and DNS over HTTPS,[16] both of which make it more difficult to perform man-in-the-middle attacks such as those required for effective Internet blocking.

On 17 April 2019, regulators stated that the law would officially be effective from 15 July 2019.[1] However, on 20 June, the government announced that it had decided to delay implementation yet again, this time for another six months, for reasons including the government's failure to notify the scheme to the European Commission, and further concerns with technical issues.[17][18]

Abandonment

On 16 October 2019, the Culture Secretary Nicky Morgan stated that the government had abandoned the mandate altogether, in favour of replacing it with a forthcoming wider scheme of Internet regulation based on the principles expressed in the Online Harms White Paper.[4][19][20]

In January 2020, a group of age verification companies started a legal action against the government, seeking a judicial review of its decision to suspend the age verification scheme. The companies included AgeChecked Ltd, AVSecure, AVYourself and VeriMe.[21] The plaintiffs contended that the Digital Economy Act 2017 gave the government the power to delay implementation but not to abandon it, and sought around £3 million in damages.[22]

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References
  1. Hern, Alex (2019-04-17). "Online pornography age checks to be mandatory in UK from 15 July". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2019-04-17.
  2. Manthorpe, Rowland (2019-03-06). "Why the UK's porn block is one of the worst ideas ever". Wired UK. ISSN 1357-0978. Retrieved 2019-03-08.
  3. Jamie Rigg (3 May 2017). "How the Digital Economy Act will come between you and porn". engadget. Retrieved 20 December 2017.
  4. Waterson, Jim (2019-10-16). "UK drops plans for online pornography age verification system". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2019-10-16.
  5. "Pornhub owner may become the UK's gatekeeper of online porn". Engadget. Retrieved 2018-04-27.
  6. "Pornhub's owner reveals its age verification tool for the UK". Engadget. Retrieved 2018-04-27.
  7. Kleinman, Zoe (2018-03-06). "Porn check critics fear data breach". BBC News. Retrieved 2018-04-27.
  8. "UK government delays rollout of controversial age-verification porn laws". The Verge. Retrieved 2018-05-29.
  9. Gayle, Damien (2018-03-27). "UK website age checks could create Facebook of porn, critics warn". The Guardian. Retrieved 2018-05-29.
  10. Waterson, Jim (2019-03-16). "UK online pornography age block triggers privacy fears". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2019-03-24.
  11. "Delay to age checks for UK porn viewers?". BBC News. Retrieved 2019-03-27.
  12. Muffett, Alec (2016-10-28). "On the Digital Economy Bill". Medium. Retrieved 2019-10-21.
  13. Spadafora, Anthony. "How the UK Porn Block could give one company an unfair advantage". TechRadar. Retrieved 2019-10-17.
  14. "UK newsstands will sell 'porn passes' to verify ages under new laws". The Verge. Retrieved 2018-05-29.
  15. Kelion, Leo (2019-04-17). "UK to introduce porn age-checks in July". Retrieved 2019-10-21.
  16. at 18:39, Gareth Corfield 24 Sep 2019. "DoH! Mozilla assures UK minister that DNS-over-HTTPS won't be default in Firefox for Britons". www.theregister.co.uk. Retrieved 2019-10-21.
  17. "Online Pornography: Age Verification - Hansard". hansard.parliament.uk. Retrieved 2019-06-25.
  18. Waterson, Jim; Hern, Alex (2019-06-20). "UK age-verification system for porn delayed by six months". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2019-06-25.
  19. "UK's controversial 'porn blocker' plan dropped". BBC News. 2019-10-16. Retrieved 2019-10-16.
  20. "Written statements". UK Parliament. Archived from the original on 2019-10-16. Retrieved 2019-10-16.
  21. Wright, Mike (2020-01-16). "Tech companies launch legal action to force Government to bring in under 18s porn ban". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2020-01-17.
  22. Will Bedingfield (24 January 2020). "The UK's controversial porn block is making a comeback". Wired UK.

See also
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