UK porn ban: What is it, when does it come into effect and can I get around it?

People will be forced to go through strange processes to prove themselves

(Getty/iStock)

The UK is about to introduce restrictions on watching pornography of a kind never before seen in the world.

The government is planning to stop children being damaged by watching adult content by stopping anyone from doing so unless they go through a "rigorous" age verification process.

Websites that aren't part of the blocks could find themselves being punished or blocked entirely within the UK.

What are the porn blocks?

They are being described as a ban on anyone under 18 watching pornography. But in fact they are a ban on anyone watching pornography unless they have explicitly proven they aren't 18.

As such they are incredibly general and have led to worries about internet freedom and the privacy of the people giving up their personal infomation to prove they are an adult.

How will I prove I'm an adult?

The government hasn't been entirely clear about this, and there's still some confusion about how exactly it will work. But with time things are becoming a little more clear.

One thing authorities are adamant about is that this won't simply be about ticking a box or choosing your date of birth from a drop down menu. The checks will be more "rigorous" than that and will require verification, not just a promise.

The solutions expected to be rolled out include everything from uploading traditional identification documents into a database – so a company will look at and save a scan of your private information, for instance – to being able to visit from phones that have already had the built-in adult filters removed.

The government has also suggested there will be an offline solution: buying a card from a newsagent which will allow you to then confirm your identity.

When do they come into effect?

On the 15 July.

Though enforcement will begin on that date, it will follow an "implementation period" which will give websites time to get ready. So it's possible there will start to be checks on some websites before them, as sites roll out their new processes.

Will people be able to get around them?

Probably. And there will most likely be a variety of ways to do so.

One is that the checks will inevitably be weaker than government promises. If getting around them simply requires a login that has been verified, for instance, there's a very good chance those logins will be passed around the internet.

Another is that the checks are only expected to apply in the UK. That means anyone looking to get around them will probably be able to use a VPN to pretend that their internet connection is in another country – and be served the version of the website for that country, without the UK's ban.

Numerous companies offer those VPNs, which can be used for a wide variety of legitimate functions, including keeping web browsing safe.

What's unlikely is that the big websites will be able to flout them. The government has promised to threaten offending websites with losing payment services – or being blocked for all users in the UK.