A year ago, the enforcement part of the Digital Economy Act, designed in an attempt to keep children from accessing adult-only websites, was pulled back at the very last moment. The British Board of Film Classification, appointed as the regulatory body, had failed to come up with a plan.
This time, the enforcements have been delayed to the 15th of July.
Given the Government’s general ignorance on subjects related to technology and the fact that there are several other matters of utmost importance to be dealt with, we can possibly expect other delays, but sooner or later porn enthusiasts will have to prove their IDs and upload a bunch of sensitive data if they want to see their favorite porn stars.
Internet privacy regulation is one of the hot topics today and, although it’s clear that certain types of content shouldn’t be accessible to minors, the UK government’s Porn Block plan sees strong opposition. The main concerns are the ease with which these blocks could be worked around by teenagers. Not only that, porn sites are typically targeted by hackers, and this could result in a flourishing market of blackmailed users threatened to have their sexual habits revealed publicly.
The World Wide Web was born as a free land and it’s a shame to see it lose part of its freedom, even when intentions are good. What if, instead of deciding whether to forbid or allow something, we shifted the paradigm? Through education for example, we could shape our children into responsible, internet-savvy adults able to take the right decisions when browsing the web as well as when regulating it.
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