The Digital Economy Bill will force all websites that display porn to age verify their users – forcing any Brit wanting to look at risqué websites to enter their personal details into a government-backed plugin. Not only could this open UK internet users up to state-sponsored hacking and Ashley Maddison style leaks, in practice it means the government is going to have to hire a load of bureaucrats to check whether a website contains porn or not. Do MPs really know what they are letting themselves in for?
The BBFC which currently categorise films will decide whether to ban websites in the UK for failing to add age checks. If they try to ban every pornographic website that doesn’t behave itself, this could cost tens of millions of pounds. That’s great news if you want a new job watching porn all day at the taxpayer’s expense…
The bill gives the BBFC the power to ban millions of websites without getting a court order – China style – if they don’t comply, even if the content on these sites is perfectly legal. Twitter and Facebook may have to block accounts from non-compliant porn sites. Theresa May’s proposals would make Mary Whitehouse blush…
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Lords are en masse debating the Digital Economy Bill this week – its passage means the British Board of Film Classification will be the regulator of age verification for online porn. The government’s current position is that the policy would apply to commercial porn sites and payment services that generate revenue. Yet the BBFC are mounting a power grab – they want anything on the internet that can be connected to porn to come under their remit. Guess who hosted a glitzy dinner in parliament in January giving them ample opportunity to lobby MPs over bottles of wine? Yep, the BBFC. The government’s own regulator using parliament to lobby the government…
