Ofcom is issuing industry guidance which sets out the tech adult websites must use to check ages.

Summary

Under the UK’s Online Safety Act, all websites hosting pornography, including social media platforms, must implement “robust” age verification methods, such as photo ID or credit card checks, for UK users by July.

Regulator Ofcom claims this is to prevent children from accessing explicit content, as research shows many are exposed as young as nine.

Critics, including privacy groups and porn sites, warn the measures could drive users to less-regulated parts of the internet, raising safety and privacy concerns.

  • mctoasterson@reddthat.comEnglish
    11·
    18 hours ago

    Thinking about this recently. Kids tend to find ways to abuse the technology for “naughty” purposes whatever the era. I remember the first kid I knew with residential internet back in the early 90s, the very first thing he wanted to show off about it was that you could get on some ancient bulletin board system and if you waited like 7 minutes you could eventually see a whole picture of a topless woman.

    Trying to age gate all internet smut sounds like a losing battle. I think an unintended consequence might be young people hassling their peers for nudes at a higher rate. Either that or they will find alternative modes of distribution that adults didn’t even think about.

    Maybe instead of trying to deanonymize internet usage for literally everybody, there is an actual social solution such as, oh, I dunno, parenting?

    • cheers_queers@lemm.eeEnglish
      31·
      17 hours ago

      you’re not wrong, but as the parent of a 7 year old, i find it impossible to keep them from things i didn’t want them to absorb, because even one child at school can undo all the safeguards I’ve implemented at home. putting it all down to “parenting” is not the solution either.

      • mctoasterson@reddthat.comEnglish
        1·
        15 hours ago

        I actually agree with you, in that I’ve been where you are and it is extremely difficult. There has been more pushback recently against the idea that very young kids are magically entitled to unfettered device access. The incentives are misaligned because big tech just wants more and more pairs of eyes. They don’t really care about the underlying harms. However they have built better parental controls recently. I have to credit Apple (extremely reluctantly) because their controls and reporting seem to be better.

        However you are right, there will always be some other kid at school with a completely unlocked device because his parents are idiots and pay zero attention.