UK porn laws could lead to blackmail, suicide – and young Brits turning to extremism
A TOP lawyer has slammed new UK porn laws as "terrifying", and said they could push Brits towards extremism or suicide.
Speaking to The Sun, Myles Jackman revealed his fears around Britain's upcoming age-check verification system for watching porn – and explained how ALL Brits are being put at risk.
Before the end of 2018, the Government will force porn sites to verify the age of all UK users, as part of last year's Digital Economy Act.
The goal is to help protect children from accessing XXX videos and images online.
But Myles, who works for digital advocacy firm Open Rights Group (ORG), told us that the laws pose a massive danger.
"The big risk is that the data from the user is not held securely, and that their privacy is violated when that data is hacked or breached," he explained.
Legal director Myles told The Sun that such a breach is "ridiculously likely to happen", and that it will affect huge swathes of the UK population.
"This is going to impact anyone who, casually or above, uses pornography for recreational purpose.
"The imposition of age verification poses an enormous risk to your readers, in terms of their personal sexual interests being leaked onto the internet for anyone to see."
He said that if a person's sexual interests were leaked, the risks could be severe: "There's blackmail, there's suicide."
Tricksters could also take advantage of unsuspecting Brits with scam sites, too.
“There’s also a risk that there will be fake age verification sites, which essentially copy the age verification and send you a blackmail notice that says: ‘pay us £200 or we’ll report you to the police’.”
UK age-check for porn – when will it happen?
Here's the latest from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport...
- "Our priority is to make the internet safer for children and we believe this is best achieved by taking time to get the implementation of the policy right."
- "We will therefore allow time for the BBFC as regulator to undertake a public consultation on its draft guidance, which will be launched later this month."
- "For the public and the industry to prepare for and comply with age verification, the Government will also ensure a period of up to three months after the BBFC guidance has been cleared by Parliament before the law comes into force."
- "It is anticipated age verification will be enforceable by the end of the year."
The new age-check rules were originally supposed to roll out in April 2018, but they've since been pushed back until the end of the year.
It'll see film regulator BBFC trawling through smut sites to work out which ones need to be blocked off behind an age-wall.
These sites will then have to ask punters to hand over personal info to gain access.
But Myles warned that even Brits who don't watch porn will be put at risk.
“For non-porn consumers – the other half of adults – there’s still a concern that this will roll out to social media.
“It will probably now impact Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook etc. So what the Tory government’s digital charter has revealed is proposing essentially an increase in censorship."
One of his major concerns is that young people could try to find ways around the blocks – using VPN software, which tricks websites into thinking you're browsing from outside the UK – and end up on the "dark web".
That's a dangerous corner of the internet accessed using VPN software that's rife with crime, illegal pornography, and extremist materials.
“There is an argument that there is a deep hypocrisy with regards to extremism," Myles told The Sun.
Young people should not be looking at the dark web. However, this policy – if implemented in the way it’s intended – will almost certainly have that effect.
“VPN sales will go through the roof.”
He said the solution isn't to put more of the web behind a "firewall", but to put more emphasis on "parental responsibility."
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"Some prefer the idea of the government doing it for them, but that shouldn’t be the way it is.”
He suggested rolling out "proper sexual relationships education in schools", including teaching about "how porn is not a realistic depiction of sex".
What do you think of the UK government's plans to age-check porn viewers? Let us know in the comments.
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