U.K. Postpones Enforcement of Age-Verification Rules

CYBERSPACE—The online adult entertainment industry has been carefully watching the progress of the Digital Economy Act in the United Kingdom, under which adult websites would be required to verify that all visitors are over 18. The law has been set to go into effect in April. Over the weekend, however, came the news that age checks will be postponed, which the Telegraph reported Sunday. According to the Telegraph, a spokesman for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport said, "We are making age verification compulsory for commercial porn sites, as part of our work to make the internet a safer place for children. But we need to take the time to make sure we get it right if it's going to work, and it will come into effect later this year." The move by the government comes in the wake of a spate of articles the last couple of months expressing concern that efforts to collect information on adult website visitors would lead to hacking incidents and raise privacy concerns. In fact, the entity appointed to regulate the age checks—the British Board of Film Classification—has yet to reveal how the checks will work. Anticipating the imposition of the new age verification law, several adult companies have already begun to offer their own solutions to operators of adult websites. To learn more, click here and here.