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UK to reportedly delay online porn age-verification system for third time

On the 15th July, the United Kingdom had slated to bring its divisive online porn age-verification system into effect, but according to reports, it will be delayed, making it the third such occasion where this has happened.

The reports come via Sky News, whose sources note that the UK’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport secretary, Jeremy Wright, is expected to announce the delay sometime today.

The age-verification system is designed to stop underage children from viewing sensitive content while on the web, and in particular targets online porn. While the intention is indeed commendable, especially in wanting to stop those under 18 from seeing illicit material, the porn block as it is commonly referred to in the UK, has proved quite divisive.

Those against the online porn block include privacy advocates, academics, and of course the global porn industry. There are serious concerns that such a system could open the door to severe privacy violations and potential blackmail as it relates to the tracking of UK citizens’ porn habits.

Another issue raised is how effective such a solution would be, as a VPN could easily be used to bypass such a geolocation-based system, allowing people to simply mask their country of origin to access online porn.

With the announcement of the third delay yet to come as of the time of writing, it should be interesting to see if the UK government will seek to set a new date for the system’s launch, or ultimately scrap the idea altogether in favour of something better.

What a better solution would look like, however, is anyone’s guess at this stage.

[Image – Photo by Thom on Unsplash]

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