United Kingdom Again Restricts Access to Pornography Websites with Age Verification

Ofcom limits access to the age of pornographic websites (photo: dock. unsplash)

JAKARTA – The problem of access to pornographic films for minors is apparently still the focus of Ofcom, the United Kingdom's telecommunications regulator. They are again trying to limit his age.

Some time ago, the United Kingdom government attempted to implement a verification process on all online pornography sites so that minors could not access them. However, this rule has become contentious due to data submission issues.

With much debate, Minister of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Nicky Morgan said the government would not implement the procedure. This statement was issued in mid-October.

From a report by The Verge, Ofcom is again trying to implement a verification system based on the recently passed Online Security Act. They issued a list of actions that can be used as a verification process.

Banks and mobile networks are required to confirm that their users are at least 18 years old. Another way that can be done is by asking users for credit card details which are only available to people over 18 years of age.

"Our research shows that pornography is now easily accessible to children online, and children as young as eight and nine are accessing pornographic sites," said Ofcom's Online Safety Lead Gill Whitehead, quoted by VOI from The Verge.

Whitehead said that 8 out of 10 children see pornography that depicts coercive, degrading or painful acts. From this research data, Ofcom is increasingly confident about verification requests for minors.

Apart from using banks, mobile networks and credit cards, Ofcom provides other advice such as asking users to upload a photo of identification such as a driver's license or passport. Websites may also use facial age estimation technology.

These rules will apply to all pornographic sites as long as their content is published and displayed online by the service provider. This means that this content is created professionally because it is arranged directly by the service provider.

Once this new policy takes effect, pornographic websites that do not comply will be subject to fines of up to 18 million euros (IDR 302 billion) or 10 percent of global revenue from published pornographic content.