UK to Block Porn Sites for under-18s

Post Reply
fountainhall

UK to Block Porn Sites for under-18s

Post by fountainhall »

The UK government is doing a tumblr. From 15 July it will start to block porn sites to all under-18s. Internet porn is not illegal in the UK. The government just wants to stop youngsters accidentally watching it.

But this throws up all sorts of issues. The first is that the age of consent in the UK is 16. So why is it denying porn to 16 and 17 year olds? The minimum voting age in much of the UK is 18 but in Scotland it is 16 for Scottish elections. Why deny the right to the Scots? You can become a soldier in the UK and fight for your country at the age of 16. Why deny these young men and women the right to access porn if they wish?

The real stupidity is that sites like twitter carry a ton of porn - and twitter is exempt! Even worse is that to verify age, everyone wishing to access porn sites will have to upload personal details which can be checked. And how long will it be before this information is hacked, I wonder?

Tumblr lost 20% of its web traffic in the first month after the adult content ban. This increased to 30% two months later. Yet tumblr does little to prevent hate-speech and religious extremism from its site.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... -sites-sex
User avatar
Bob
Posts: 1046
Joined: Sat Jul 31, 2010 11:03 pm
Been thanked: 37 times

Re: UK to Block Porn Sites for under-18s

Post by Bob »

Geez, for some reason, I thought they were called "parental controls" (and even those aren't very effective). But I'd think it's the job of parents to monitor this issue and not the Brexiteers and non-Brexiteers.
Plus exactly how are these dinosaurs planning to make this work? They think home computers and internet services are in minors' name? Not hardly. And regardless of what the oldsters come up with, a half-clever 12-year-old will get around any of that in a nanosecond. Hell, they'll have more fun getting around any controls than actually watching the porn!
Jun

Re: UK to Block Porn Sites for under-18s

Post by Jun »

If the government hypothetically succeeded in stopping under 18s accessing porn, I suppose they have to concentrate on accessing real sex instead.

Not that the government will succeed with this. They probably have every option from VPNs, bribing someone to get the age ID or downloading as much as possible beforehand and shareing it via USB sticks.
Also, if this is only being publicized now, there is not much time for age verification systems to be set up beforehand.

Incidentally, I once tried to buy a fake ID card from a UK on-line seller. One with my real ID on it so I can use it as security for bicycle hire etc in places like Cambodia. Their drop down age menu wouldn't go up to my age. I suspect they sell a lot of cards to youngsters.
User avatar
Captain Kirk
Posts: 707
Joined: Sun May 22, 2011 2:48 am
Location: Pattaya
Been thanked: 50 times

Re: UK to Block Porn Sites for under-18s

Post by Captain Kirk »

Jun wrote: Sun Apr 21, 2019 5:47 pm
Not that the government will succeed with this. They probably have every option from VPNs, bribing someone to get the age ID or downloading as much as possible beforehand and shareing it via USB sticks.
Also, if this is only being publicized now, there is not much time for age verification systems to be set up beforehand.
This has been mooted for a while now. It was meant to be up and running already but they pushed the date back. I'm not sure if this is actually in effect already in Scotland but they've definitely done something here. An escort site I've used for years I can now only access from around 9 or 10pm. The porn sites are the same, no daytime access. Problem is that I'm not being offered any option to verify my age when I try to access the sites, they simply will not load. Even the phone apps don't refresh during the day. It's actually pissing me off.
Post Reply