Plans for age verification online pornography checks dropped

jaymailsays

Plans for age verification online pornography checks dropped

https://www.itv.com/news/2019-10-16/plans-for-age-verification-pornography-checks-dropped/

The UK porn block has been scrapped, with the government dropping their plans to introduce age verification measures.

Under the scrapped plans, people would have had to prove their age in a number of ways, including using traditional forms of ID such as a credit card or passport, or by buying an over-the-counter card from shops where age verification would take place face to face.
https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/uk-porn-block-scrapped-government-17095501

The long-delayed tighter controls were last due to come into force on July 15, but were pushed back after the Government failed to notify the European Commission about certain aspects of the crackdown.

jaymailsays

Digital Secretary Nicky Morgan said the age verification measures will no longer go ahead under Part 3 of the Digital Economy Act 2017, with efforts instead focused on the Government’s wider online harms.

“The Government has concluded that this objective of coherence will be best achieved through our wider online harms proposals and, as a consequence, will not be commencing Part 3 of the Digital Economy Act 2017 concerning age verification for online pornography,”

What will this mean for giffgaff?

extreme_one

jaymailsays What will this mean for giffgaff?

Nothing.

It's unrelated to the age verification mobile operators carry out.

Still, good news though. 👍

It was unworkable and would have been astronomically expensive without actually tackling the problem.

jaymailsays

extreme_one It's unrelated to the age verification mobile operators carry out.

Not totally unrelated as the current code is voluntary. giffgaff delayed updating their verification criteria claiming the legislation would sort it out.

Those calling for alternatives to passports and the restriction of only british driving licences being accepted is discriminatory, not least to northern Irish drivers.

Credit cards and Electoral Register checks are the obvious additions to this situation.

ip633

jaymailsays Not totally unrelated as the current code is voluntary. giffgaff delayed updating their verification criteria claiming the legislation would sort it out.

I remember Alex advising us that the voluntary code of practice was being updated:

https://community.giffgaff.com/d/19836199-adult-content-access-via-electoral-register-labs-status-we-re-looking-into-it/120

Have I missed a more recent update?

jaymailsays

ip633 Have I missed a more recent update?

No. It has stalled!
The link you gave has a Labs idea that says giffgaff are working on it and it has 343 votes.
https://labs.giffgaff.com/idea/16704220/electoral-register-listing-allows-adult-content-access
Seem to remember that giffgaff had handed negotiations over to the O2 team.

ip633

Some people are going to be reading this thread title, and then getting their hopes up that the rules are about to be relaxed further. But as far as mobile devices are concerned, we're talking about two completely separate processes.

ip633

It looks like the original voluntary code of practice (that offered detailed guidance on age restricted content), has now been pulled. At least, I can’t find any reference to It on Ofcom’s website:

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-telecoms-and-internet/information-for-industry/codes-of-practice

There is general advice for parents, but there seems to be less onus on mobile operators to keep children safe online, as parental controls are not necessarily switched on by default.

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-telecoms-and-internet/advice-for-consumers/safety-and-security/parents-guide-to-buying-mobile-phone-or-tablet

Some may argue that this latest U-turn is actually good news, but I think they’re missing the point really. Whatever policy they eventually settle on, it’s not about censoring the web for people who have a legal right to access pornographic websites, it’s about trying to protect children from inadvertently stumbling across such content.

jaymailsays

ip633 as parental controls are not necessarily switched on by default.

And mistakes happen, even on giffgaff!
https://community.giffgaff.com/d/33023384-safe-search-is-not-working/20