British government wants to fine websites that show porn to minors

The UK government has introduced a bill requiring websites to perform age verification before viewing pornographic material. Websites showing porn to minors should be fined up to £250,000.

The mandatory age check for porn websites is described in the Digital Economy Bill, writes The Register. The bill has been presented to Parliament by the British government and is supported by child protection organizations.

Under the bill, websites offering pornographic material in the form of video, images or audio must first determine the age of the viewer. If it is under the age of 18, it should be declined from the website. It is not clear how this verification should be implemented. It is also unclear to what extent the legislation could apply to pornography websites operated by companies not based in the UK.

Under the bill, commercial websites that fail to meet the age criteria could be fined £250,000, or five percent of sales. The regulations should be enforced by a new independent regulator to be set up.

At the end of 2013, the United Kingdom started blocking porn by default for new internet users. Access to pornographic material was only possible via opt-in with the filter in effect. At the end of 2015, the filter came to an end, because according to European legislation all internet traffic is treated equally. The porn filter is therefore in violation of the law.