Porn sites will need age verification from 2017, Government announces

The issue has alarmed privacy campaigners, since it could mean having to register a credit card to a site

The government has already indicated plans to try forcing pornographic websites to check users' ages (Getty)

The Government has unveiled plans for age verification on porn websites in its new Digital Economy Bill, set to come into force in 2017.

Just how the ages of the users of sites will be monitored is unclear, but the issue has alarmed privacy campaigners, since it could mean having to register a credit card with a porn website. Owners of adult sites could be fined up to £250,000 if they don't check people's ages.

The Open Rights Group, which campains for privacy and free speech online has said: "While preventing children from seeing pornography is a worthy aim, age verification is fraught with difficulties if infringements of privacy and free expression are to be avoided."

To enforce the measures, the Government suggested a new, separate watchdog be created. The body would be able to alert credit card companies, even if the websites themselves didn’t cooperate.

The Government has introduced a raft of restrictions on porn in recent years, which has been seen by many as a crackdown on personal freedoms. But stricter controls on adult content online have been supported by the children's charity the NSPCC. The charity has found that half of schoolchildren admit to seeing sexual and violent material on the internet and that children wanted to copy the behaviour they had seen on porn sites, despite the majority of respondents saying porn didn’t help them understand consent.

The bill also includes harsher new copyright laws. Those found guilty of copyright infringement could be imprisoned for up to 10 years.

Open Rights said: “The proposals could mean individuals who share or link to files could receive custodial sentences – even if they have not made any financial gain. This would be excessive and could mean sharing a file online would lead to a greater custodial sentence than physical theft.

The new digital scheme also includes a right legal right to high-speed broadband. Under the Broadband Universal Service Obligation businesses and individuals would have a connection of a minimum of 10Mbps.

The bill should make it easier for customers to switch telecoms providers, by making it the company’s responsibility to manage the move between networks, rather than the customer.

There are also plans to open data sets within the public sector, helping with connectivity. The Government claimed this would help tackle fraud as well as improve the services. First proposed in the Queen's Speech, the bill aims to help the UK become a "world leader in the digital economy".