U.K.: Ofcom Proposes Age Verification Rules for Porn Sites

LONDON—Ofcom, the United Kingdom’s communications regulator, has proposed age verification regulations covering major adult entertainment websites operating in the country’s digital space. In accordance with the controversial Online Safety Act, Ofcom announced the consultation, or period of public comment on the proposed regulations, early this week based on the context of preventing minors from accessing age-restricted materials.  “Pornography is too readily accessible to children online, and the new online safety laws are clear that must change,” said Dame Melanie Dawes, chief executive of Ofcom, in a statement.  “Our practical guidance sets out a range of methods for highly effective age checks,” she said. According to the same press statement, the range of methods studied by Ofcom includes methods that utilize sensitive, personally identifiable information like credit card numbers or government ID cards, or less invasive methods such as artificial intelligence-supported age-estimation checks. “Regardless of their approach, we expect all services to offer robust protection to children from stumbling across pornography, and also to take care that privacy rights and freedoms for adults to access legal content are safeguarded,” said Dawes.  AVN previously reported on a variety of age verification measures being pushed by religious anti-porn campaigners and far-right lawmakers without input from adult industry members. The Verge additionally notes that digital rights advocates and civil liberties groups in both the United Kingdom and the United States criticize Ofcom’s proposed methods for age verification. “Age verification technologies for pornography risk sensitive personal data being breached, collected, shared, or sold,” said Abigail Burke, a program manager for the U.K.-based Open Rights Group, in a statement to Verge reporter Jon Porter.  Burke added: “The potential consequences of data being leaked are catastrophic and could include blackmail, fraud, relationship damage, and the outing of people’s sexual preferences in very vulnerable circumstances.” Mandatory age verification remains a popular legislative tactic among far-right Republicans in the United States in both chambers of the U.S. Congress and various state-level legislatures. The regulatory guidance is the latest attempt to implement age-gating in the United Kingdom. Public consultation is now open on Ofcom’s website and officially closes on March 5, 2024.  “This consultation focuses on our draft guidance to assist providers of online services that publish or display regulated provider pornographic content in complying with their age assurance and record-keeping duties under the [Online Safety Act],” Ofcom states in the consultation. The government of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak additionally announced a review of the porn industry’s efforts to prevent illegal activity and supposed connections to such activity.