Government to Help Protect Kids from Online Pornography
Some good news came from the UK government recently in the fight to protect our children from online pornography.
A public consultation has been launched over plans to implement age checks on pornography websites. This follows a manifesto commitment that “all sites containing pornographic material” must check that users are over 18.
Here’s what they say:
‘’We need to stop children accessing material which is doing them harm.’’
MP Karen Bradley – Minister for Preventing Abuse, Exploitation and Crime.
”Just as we do offline, we want to make sure children are prevented from accessing pornographic content online which should only be viewed by adults.”
Baroness Shields – Minister for Internet Safety and Security
“As a matter of urgency we must prevent children having ready access to content rated over 18 as it can give them a warped view of sexual relationships.”
Peter Wanless – NSPCC Chief Executive
How would it work?
It is expected the appointed regulator would have the power to force internet service providers to block sites that did not perform effective age checks and that providers who do not cooperate would be fined. Age checking is used effectively by the online gambling industry. Options include confirmation of credit card ownership to checking a user’s details with the electoral register.
Although promising, it may be five years before we begin to see real results with this proposed legislation.The World Wide Web launched in the early 1990s, so it is sad it has taken over 25 years to get to this point. As always, the responsibility remains on parents and guardians to teach and protect their kids when using the internet.
To learn more visit protectyourkids.org.uk