UK government delays erection of age-checks for porn sites

Concern over security and privacy of third-party age-verification for porn sites forces delay

Government plans to compel porn and other sites offering adult-only 'entertainment' to erect age-verification barriers have been delayed.

As part of the Digital Economy Act, the UK government is forcing porn websites to have a robust age verification process to ensure that visitors are over the age of 18.

But concerns were raised surrounding the implementations of age checks and the risk they could pose to online privacy, especially as such checks could involve third-party verification.

The goal is to have safeguards to keep children off porn sites, but it has been argued that implementing draconian age checks could end up with adults parting with a sensitive personal identification data that could prove a security risk if compromised or passed to the wrong hands.

The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC), which was appointed as the regulator of checks, failed to come up with a proper plan to implement age checks

The plans have therefore been delayed, as the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC), which was appointed as the regulator of checks, failed to come up with a proper plan to implement age checks.

The age-verification checks will still be implemented at some point, though, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DDCMS) was keen to assert.

"We are making age verification compulsory for commercial porn sites, as part of our work to make the internet a safer place for children. But we need to take the time to make sure we get it right if it's going to work, and it will come into effect later this year," a spokesman from the DDCMS told the Metro newspaper.

That said, such age checks will still be subject to consultation and MP approval, so it could be some time before the system is rolled out.

And pressures will likely come from privacy-centric groups, such as the Open Rights Group.

"This is a chance for the government to rethink the absence of safeguards for privacy and security, but it is frightening to consider that this policy was two weeks away from launch before it was pulled," Myles Jackman, Open Rights Group's legal director.

"Mike Hancock needs to introduce powers to safeguard privacy immediately before this scheme causes real damage."