The UK’s controversial porn block has a new launch date: July 15th, 2019.
The scheme, which is designed to stop people under 18 from accessing pornographic material online, has been repeatedly delayed. The government previously said it would roll out the block sometime in April, but it has now pushed that date back to July 15th, BBC News reports.
The law will force commercial porn sites to check the age of visitors from the UK. Sites that fail to comply could be blocked by Internet Service Providers (ISPs). Visitors to sites will be able to verify their age using documents like passports, driver’s licenses, or credit cards. Porn passes will also be sold in shops for £4.99 ($6.50).
The block has been repeatedly criticized by privacy campaigners, academics, and the porn industry. They note that even taken on its own terms, the block will be woefully inadequate.
Critics say the block will be ineffective and endanger citizens’ privacy
Users will be able to easily bypass the block using a Virtual Private Network (VPN), which routes internet traffic through a different country. Many social media sites that contain ample pornographic material, like Twitter, Reddit, and Imgur, will not be blocked at all.
The government has been adamant that the block is necessary to protect young people from being accidentally exposed to pornography online.
“The introduction of mandatory age-verification is a world-first, and we’ve taken the time to balance privacy concerns with the need to protect children from inappropriate content,” said the UK’s digital minister, Margot James, in a press statement. ”We want the UK to be the safest place in the world to be online, and these new laws will help us achieve this.”
Beyond criticisms that the block will be ineffective, campaigners say it also creates a huge range of digital rights and privacy issues. The company at the forefront of verifying users’ ages will be MindGeek, which operates the world’s most popular porn sites, including Pornhub, YouPorn, and RedTube. This will give it greater control over the industry.
Campaigners also say the scheme will, in essence, create a centralized list of porn viewers in the UK, which would be a prime target for hackers.
A poll carried out by YouGov earlier this year found that the majority of Britons (76 percent of respondents) weren’t even aware that the block was being introduced. Two-thirds of the public (67 percent) supported the scheme, while only one-third (34 percent) thought it would be effective.