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Beeldredacteur
UK News

Delay on government enforcing pornography age checks

Plans to enforce age checks on accessing adult websites were due to come in this April but have been delayed for a public consultation period. 

Issues needing more thought include how to make sure leaks of users' details, like those of the adultery site Ashley-Madision, are not repeated and to think about the best way to check someone's age. 

A spokesperson for the department said: ""We need to take the time to make sure we get it right."

However, explaining that the Government are still much further ahead in this area than other countries, Vivienne Pattison, a Christian and trustee of Media Watch UK who campaign for a safer internet, told Premier: "I'm really proud of the UK, it's really leading the world on this one about protecting children in the online space - which great and that's laudable - but this is a complicated thing which is why it is taking longer to come in than we thought."

Describing what the checks would be like, Pattison explained: "These are the sort of checks a child, or indeed anybody anybody accessing a site, for example a gambling site, would come across."

She explained though where the plans currently fail: "The sites that we're talking about here are sites a that are offering paid content...what it doesn't do it deal with protecting sites with free content - and that is an area that is growing hugely"

The checks would be enforced at either 16 or 18 and could require driving licences or credit card details as checks. 

"Its to ensure children don't stumble on things accidentally", Pattison explained. 

She added though that freedom arguments are being made in opposition to it: "I think that is a huge area of concern but we can't use it to hide behind for not doing anything because in the meantime there are children coming across this stuff and they're being harmed."

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