A LONG-PLANNED change to the way people in the UK access online pornography may finally take place in April. The move, which has been pushed back by the UK government a number of times and could face further delays, will see users blocked from virtually all websites hosting pornography unless they prove they are over 18.
The regulation will apply whenever someone in the UK visits a site, hosted anywhere in the world, whose main aim is the distribution of pornography. The system will be overseen by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC), which is in charge of film and television age ratings.
The BBFC will certify age-verification schemes run by other entities. So far, the only major provider looks to be MindGeek, a private company that owns many of the world’s largest producers of pornography, as well as many of the most popular pornography streaming sites. It has set up a system, AgeID, to operate its verification scheme, which looks likely to become the industry standard (see “How the block will work”).
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Privacy campaigners are concerned that placing the details of millions of pornography users in the hands of a single company could create a huge hacking target for blackmailers. But it also isn’t clear whether the restrictions will achieve the desired goal of preventing children from accessing pornography.
A by Elena Martellozzo and Andrew Monaghan at Middlesex University found that 65 per cent of 15-year-olds had seen pornographic content on the internet. It also found that 42 per cent of 15-year-olds wanted to emulate something they had seen in such content. In general, boys were more likely than girls to have accessed pornographic material: 59 per cent of 11 to 16-year-old boys reported having actively searched for it, compared with 25 per cent of girls.
“Almost 60 per cent of 11 to 16-year-olds boys reported having actively searched for pornographic content”
However, the report also noted that young people were as likely to have accidentally seen such content through pop-ups or similar as through seeking out sites offering this content. One in four reported having been sent pornographic material. Neither of these would be affected by the proposed block.
Martellozzo and Monaghan have been conducting further research on children’s use of online pornography and its potential harms, but the analysis of their data isn’t complete and won’t be finished until later in the year, they told żěè¶ĚĘÓƵ.
Figures from the UK’s National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC), which has advocated for the block, suggest that children themselves are worried about online pornography.
Children at risk
The charity says its Childline service, which offers anonymous counselling, was contacted by more than 2000 children between April 2014 and March 2017 who had concerns after viewing pornographic material online, including about addiction. Around 200 of those counselling sessions were for children aged under 12. But the NSPCC says it is unaware of any research showing that reducing access to such material mitigates harm.
If the evidence base for the effectiveness of the new policy is limited, the same is true of its potential downsides.
Campaigners characterise the AgeID verification process as creating a UK-wide database of adults accessing pornography, with no additional legal safeguards against it being used for other purposes and with the potential for misuse by hackers or rogue employees.
Advocates of the scheme deny such a database will be created, saying only the minimum necessary data will be recorded.
It is difficult to say who is right, given that neither AgeID nor the BBFC has provided a public explanation of the technical details behind the system.
For example, suppose the system records when particular sites look up a user in the age-verification database – which is legitimate data needed to operate such a system. It could be highly embarrassing if these records were leaked, revealing, for example, that someone had visited niche sites, or sites with gay content for an individual who presented as heterosexual.
“It could be highly embarrassing if records of people’s pornography use were publicly leaked”
“I don’t know why any pornography consumers would sign up for AgeID given the obvious concerns,” says cybersecurity consultant Graham Cluley. “I – like many others – am advising internet users that they might be wiser to put their trust elsewhere if they’re concerned about keeping their pornography-viewing habit private.”
One way of doing that is to turn to the dark web, which can only be accessed through software that the averagely tech-savvy teenager should have no problem using to get around the block. This unregulated area of the internet could, in turn, expose people to more extreme pornography or illegal activities, the exact opposite goal of the age-verification scheme.
There are also simpler ways to avoid the block: using a virtual private network (VPN) allows a user to pretend to be accessing the internet from another country, which would bypass AgeID altogether. It isn’t without risks: unscrupulous VPNs could exploit records of people’s pornography usage or even place malware on the user’s computer.
Additionally, there has been no attempt to restrict access to pornographic material on social networks, as the scope of the regulation is restricted to sites focused on the distribution of such content. While networks such as Facebook and Tumblr have policies banning this material, Twitter, Reddit and other sites permit it under their terms of use. Private messaging services such as WhatsApp have no means of blocking pornographic content.
AgeID itself has expressed concerns about this legal loophole. “If such platforms contain pornographic material, then not requiring them to age verify their users is contradictory to child protection laws,” the firm said in a .
Aside from these practical considerations, there are questions over the legality of the scheme. Campaigners are considering a legal challenge.
“It could be open to challenge, either on privacy grounds, or on free expression,” says Jim Killock, director of the Open Rights Group. “There are questions about market access and competition also. These are being actively considered.”
Killock’s immediate worry is privacy safeguards for the companies operating age-verification schemes. In response to concerns from the Open Rights Group and others, the BBFC has set up a voluntary privacy code of conduct, which AgeID has signed up to. But Killock fears that won’t be enough to prevent people’s data being used for marketing or advertising purposes.
When contacted by żěè¶ĚĘÓƵ, a spokesperson for MindGeek, responding on behalf of AgeID, asked that questions be directed to the BBFC. The BBFC told żěè¶ĚĘÓƵ that it was unable to discuss its role in this area before the age-verification scheme comes into force.
As it stands, the new rules are set to come as a shock to many internet users if they take effect in the next month. A recent survey by YouGov found that 76 per cent of the UK population were unaware of the block, including 53 per cent of users willing to tell the pollster they regularly accessed such content (see “Graph”).
The debate around the plan has, to date, been muted. Will it remain so when the public – quite suddenly, in some cases – find out about it?
How the block will work
The day-to-day implementation of the UK’s age-verification scheme is being managed by AgeID, a subsidiary of MindGeek, which operates some of the pornography industry’s most recognisable brands.
The scheme will have a single sign-on for sites operated by MindGeek and by pornography producers. Once someone has created an account and had their age verified, they shouldn’t need to do so again.
Users can choose to verify themselves using their driver’s licence or by paying a small refundable charge on a credit card. An option involving verification via text message is also reportedly available. However, as these are available to under-18s, it isn’t clear what extra checks will be used, and won’t be until the scheme is under way.
For those conscious about privacy – though not embarrassed in person – there is an option to buy a £4.99 pass in local shops, which will offer a code to verify their age anonymously online.
Article amended on 10 April 2019
We clarified that AgeID is a verification system set up by the company MindGeek
