Good news for consumers and producers of WAM materials, the idiotic "UK Porn Blocker" that was supposed to "prevent minors stumbling over pornographic content" is officially dead, the government have said in a written statement that they will not be "commencing Part 3 of the Digital Economy Act 2017 concerning age verification for online pornography".
Given that the UK is 1/3 of the global WAM marketplace, the proposed block, had it been rolled out, would have been both a major blow to WAM producers and a massive boost to pirates.
So this is wonderful news. I think a celebration in the dungeon may be in order. With drinks, cakes, custard, and delicious pies. All to be worn, not consumed, of course.
Saturation Hall - Forth! The Gungemaidens!
10/16/19, 2:50pm: moved from Messy to Off-Topic and gender changed from female to n/a
Gonna celebrate this the true English way, drinking cheap bottled cider in a park hidden in a plastic bag (take that ya Tory bastards, Brit WAM is INVINCIBLE)
"Instead porn providers would be expected to meet a new "duty of care" to improve online safety. This will be policed by a new online regulator "with strong enforcement powers to deal with non-compliance".
However I am hoping this is simply a vague face saving device
Having admitted that adult verification won't stop children viewing porn, it would be tough to argue that not having it equalled failing a duty of care.
"Instead porn providers would be expected to meet a new "duty of care" to improve online safety. This will be policed by a new online regulator "with strong enforcement powers to deal with non-compliance".
However I am hoping this is simply a vague face saving device
Having admitted that adult verification won't stop children viewing porn, it would be tough to argue that not having it equalled failing a duty of care.
I suspect that is indeed just a face-saving get-out clause so the politicians can try and say they've not capitulated completely. But the fact that they aren't implementing the Age Verification proposals from the Digital Economy Act 2017 presumably means that someone eventually got the message that it wasn't technically feasible to make it work (esp after the big browser makers started rolling out DNS-over-HTTPS), and that trying to do so would result in the sort of payment and kink info databases that financial criminals have wet dreams about, with the inevitable ensuing explosion in fraud and blackmail. A year ago I was convinced they were actually serious about implementing it, so I'm really glad it has now been consigned to the bit bucket where it belongs.
I couldn't see how it could be implemented with new technology like DNS over HTTPS etc. Additionally putting such blocks in place just teaches people at an even younger age to get to far worse corners of the 'net where any kind of filtering just doesn't exist.
Egg on Government face is also good although at the moment they've enough for an omelette to feed the 5,000.
Pay attention to paragraph three. The Gov - having had their asses kicked from here to kingdom come. Have now decided they want to block porn and social media with a new bill, which they want to turn into a new law. So here we go again. No idea when it will start to pass through parliament, etc,. I love how the BBFC were attempting to employ people and then law falls through. That did make me laugh.
The worrying word in their new statement is "regime" what do they mean by that?
Love you, too
