Porn age-verification laws delayed by UK government amid widespread confusion about how they will actually work

Critics argue that the new laws could lead people's viewing habits to be leaked onto the internet

(Getty/iStockphoto)

Controversial plans to force people to prove their age before watching pornography online have been delayed by the Government.

The decision comes amid continuing controversy and confusion over how the blocks will actually be implemented.

The Government has long been hoping to introduce age checks to ensure that only over-18s can watch adult content. Those plans were due to go into force this April, and would see people who didn't properly check who was viewing their sites charged up to £250,000.

But now the Government says it needs more time to work on the proper implementation of the checks. It will "take time" to make sure the plan is properly implemented, but will have it in place by the end of the year, it said.

Critics argue that the plan is badly thought out and could lead people using the internet into more danger. The Government still hasn't said exactly how such age verification will work, and how it will ensure both that it accurately checks people's ages and that the data collected when people do so is not open to abuse.

The Government isn't providing age verification software of its own. Instead, it will allow the pornography industry to introduce the checks itself – and institute the fines if they do not do so.

The only practical solution is called AgeID and has been made by MindGeek, which owns sites such as YouPorn and Pornhub and thereby controls more than 90 per cent of the online pornography market. That company hopes to sell its solution to other providers, but critics argue that could lead to a monopoly and put users in danger.

"The consequences of handing the age verification services over to MindGeek are severe for both the customer and the site," said Erika Lust, a Swedish erotic film director. "There is the extreme risk of privacy loss to any person who enters their details and participates.

"It also means MindGeek will be given hugely valuable analytics on competitor companies not part of their collection. The privacy policy for AgeID states, 'we also may use these technologies to collect information about your online activities over time and across third-party websites or other online services'."

The Open Rights Group said that it welcomed the decision to pull the plan, but pointed out that the plan to introduce age verification before the end of the year still represents a significant threat to users. It called on the culture secretary to introduce new protections before it is introduced.

“This is a chance for the government to rethink the absence of safeguards for privacy and security, but it is frightening to consider that this policy was two weeks away from launch before it was pulled," said Myles Jackman, ORG’s legal director. “Matt Hancock needs to introduce powers to safeguard privacy immediately before this scheme causes real damage.”

The delay was announced at the end of a press release announcing a competition to help introduce 5G networks to the UK. It said that it was announcing the delay to give more time to the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC), which was appointed to run the scheme in February.

"Our priority is to make the internet safer for children and we believe this is best achieved by taking time to get the implementation of the policy right," a press release read. "We will therefore allow time for the BBFC as regulator to undertake a public consultation on its draft guidance which will be launched later this month."

Once the BBFC publishes its guidelines, the Government will give it three months to implement them before the laws go into effect, it said.