UK plans on blocking Porn soon... How does this affect SL?

[Carl Thibodeaux]

Noticed different news stories on this.. Noticed the UK will be placing blocks on Porn real soon. There will be a different way to verify your a adult and able to view such websites, and material.

 

My question is.. How will this affect SL? Will Linden Labs need to think of a new way to adult verify people, or go back to their old ways instead of just a birth date?

[Quinn Lysette]

omg does this mean i cant do it with uk girls anymore?

[panatropica]

 

[Noveen Benoir]

  To be age verified I actually had to send a copy of my driver's license. Yes photo evidence of my driver's license plus it's linked to my PayPal which is also very age verified.

[Bitsy Buccaneer]

I haven't really been following this but I think I read somewhere that it's been put off for at least the time being.

[Skell Dagger]

I would imagine that the primary way of proving age within SL for UK residents if this bill passes will be to have credit card information on file, with possibly a nominal sum (such as £1) charged to it after it's been added, in order to verify that it's a legitimate card. While this won't stop determined minors from using their parents' card information if they're (for some reason) desperate to access SL, it's probably the way that LL would go if asked to put some kind of age verification in place. There are precious few options available:

• Driving license? - Not everybody drives (especially those living in highly-populated areas, such as London, with frequent and [mostly!] reliable public transport)
• Passport? - Not everybody goes abroad and has an up-to-date passport (besides which, the cost is prohibitively expensive if you only want to use it for age verification)
• ID cards? - These work for getting into clubs, but I'm not sure the Govt will accept them against a bill like this
• National Insurance numbers? - Not publicly accessible for LL to check against (despite the best efforts of civil servants accidentally leaving laptops in cars!)
• Electoral roll? - Only the public electoral roll is available for anyone to check, and many people (myself included) have put themselves on the private roll instead, to reduce the amount of junk mail they receive
• Household bill such as utilities or Council Tax? - Anyone could scan something like that and send it, not just an adult

Sure, not everybody has a credit card either, but that's all I can think of that is currently used for age verification in the UK. I'm wondering if the Govt is going to be using this as a first step to introducing official identity cards, though...

Edited April 1, 2018 by Skell Dagger
Added some more details

[Zeta Vandyke]

Not sure if SL will be suffering from this at all. The platform itself is for adults only already, and even though their ways of confirming you actually are adult are not hard to get around I doubt it will be up to LL to up their verification process due to a change in a nations policy for internet porn. Specially since the platform is not a "porn platform" but a sandbox.

But that's just what I think based on nothing

[Claireschen Hesten]

I thought this wasn't going to happen anymore i know there was some talk of this a long time ago but not heard anything recently and can't see any mention on the news sites and apps I use

[Skell Dagger]

5 minutes ago, Claireschen Hesten said:

I thought this wasn't going to happen anymore i know there was some talk of this a long time ago but not heard anything recently and can't see any mention on the news sites and apps I use

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/bbfc-proposed-to-enforce-age-verification-of-online-pornography

[Phil Deakins]

I don't think it would have anything to with LL. If the UK government decides to block porn to non-adults, then they'll have certain websites, and possibly systems such as SL, blocked until they (the government) are happy that the user is an adult. LL shouldn't be involved in any way. The only affect it may have for LL is that some users can no longer use SL.

ETA: I just started to read the .gov page that Skell linked to. In the very first paragraph is says:-

Age verification will mean anyone who makes pornography available online on a commercial basis must ensure under 18s in the UK cannot access it. This is part of the Government’s continuing work to make the UK the safest place in the world to be online.

So this UK government is thinking of blocking the accessing of porn by non-adults, BUT it's not going to lift a finger to implement it. It's going to tell website owners to do it for them. Words completely fail me.

Edited April 1, 2018 by Phil Deakins

[Zeta Vandyke]

"Age verification will mean anyone who makes pornography available online on a commercial basis must ensure under 18s in the UK cannot access it. This is part of the Government’s continuing work to make the UK the safest place in the world to be online."

If they want porn "creators" to be responsible for maintaining the age verification, I think they can only get it done by law in the UK itself? And that will only block a minority of internet porn. Its not like they can force me to use age verification when I post any porn online commercially outside of the UK on non UK hosting.

IMO in issues like these a government should only have an advising and informing role. Let parent know what ways already are available to protect children. Schools and public places like libraries work with proxy/content filters. Parents can install parental lock software (or whatever its called). If we are talking about the age where children really need protection, these kind of measures should suffice. At a certain age children will outsmart those systems, but usually that's the age where the level of protection needed is way lower and they will also outsmart age verification, or just know where to get free non commercial porn.

[Fionalein]

As far as I know, the UK has done so before, with a complete ban of "violence related porn" so even under current juristiction by now there should be no British Goreans left =^.^= ...

I doubt anything will happen soon worst thing that could happen is: UK persons could be blocked from accessing adult sims like certain states now cannot access skill gaming regions. But as said: I doubt it will happen.

[shameless plug™]There's always the emmigration option, people with good English skills are always needed around the world  (sorry for the Cockney folks, but cuts need to be made...)[/shameless plug™]

 

EDIT: just read the independent article on it again, OK so far only "violent" porn produced in the UK was affected, which makes it complicated to guess if somone usinga  keyboard consumes or produces content (no lawyer here, could be interpreted both ways)

Edited April 1, 2018 by Fionalein

[Liaa Nova]

9 hours ago, Quinn Lysette said:

omg does this mean i cant do it with uk girls anymore?

There IS a god!

[Liaa Nova]

2 hours ago, Skell Dagger said:

I would imagine that the primary way of proving age within SL for UK residents if this bill passes will be to have credit card information on file, with possibly a nominal sum (such as £1) charged to it after it's been added, in order to verify that it's a legitimate card. While this won't stop determined minors from using their parents' card information if they're (for some reason) desperate to access SL, it's probably the way that LL would go if asked to put some kind of age verification in place. There are precious few options available:

• Driving license? - Not everybody drives (especially those living in highly-populated areas, such as London, with frequent and [mostly!] reliable public transport)
• Passport? - Not everybody goes abroad and has an up-to-date passport (besides which, the cost is prohibitively expensive if you only want to use it for age verification)
• ID cards? - These work for getting into clubs, but I'm not sure the Govt will accept them against a bill like this
• National Insurance numbers? - Not publicly accessible for LL to check against (despite the best efforts of civil servants accidentally leaving laptops in cars!)
• Electoral roll? - Only the public electoral roll is available for anyone to check, and many people (myself included) have put themselves on the private roll instead, to reduce the amount of junk mail they receive
• Household bill such as utilities or Council Tax? - Anyone could scan something like that and send it, not just an adult

Sure, not everybody has a credit card either, but that's all I can think of that is currently used for age verification in the UK. I'm wondering if the Govt is going to be using this as a first step to introducing official identity cards, though...

I hope they will have a choice of what to use, as i'm someone with no credit card & it sure as hell will cost a lot of £ to move abroad to use SL lol

[wesleytron]

1 hour ago, Phil Deakins said:

 

Age verification will mean anyone who makes pornography available online on a commercial basis must ensure under 18s in the UK cannot access it.

Interesting. How do they define 'commercial' I wonder?

If we were to take that statement at face value, I'm guessing it means all the free porn is unaffected. So it's no help at all.

[Phil Deakins]

29 minutes ago, wesleytron said:

Interesting. How do they define 'commercial' I wonder?

If we were to take that statement at face value, I'm guessing it means all the free porn is unaffected. So it's no help at all.

I really can't imagine why the words "on a commercial basis" is in there. I thought fines? license? but nothing fit. Anyone can be fined, not just those conducting business, and nobody should have license to spread porn to non-adults. I even thought 'April the 1st' but not on a government website. I'm completely perplexed.

[Phil Deakins]

52 minutes ago, Liana Wildmist said:

I hope they will have a choice of what to use, as i'm someone with no credit card & it sure as hell will cost a lot of £ to move abroad to use SL lol

But it can be done

[Bree Giffen]

http://www.bbfc.co.uk/about-bbfc/dea-consultation

Well right now the British Board of Film Classification is asking for public feedback on their proposed standards of age verification. Feedback is open til late April. From what I see, even Google will have to age verify anyone who uses Google since they are considered an ancillary provider. I'd suggest all Brits start looking for a good VPN to a French or German ISP to bypass this proposed censorship. 

[Claireschen Hesten]

4 hours ago, Skell Dagger said:

• Driving license? - Not everybody drives (especially those living in highly-populated areas, such as London, with frequent and [mostly!] reliable public transport)

you can get round the driving license by having a provisional license even if you live in central London and have zero want or need to drive it's worth having it will be accepted as ID/proof of age anywhere 

[Skell Dagger]

4 minutes ago, Claireschen Hesten said:

you can get round the driving license by having a provisional license even if you live in central London and have zero want or need to drive it's worth having it will be accepted as ID/proof of age anywhere 

Agreed, but that can be applied for from two months before your 17th birthday, while you're still 16. Which mean a provisional license is no guarantee that someone is over the age of majority in the UK.

[Liaa Nova]

13 minutes ago, Claireschen Hesten said:

you can get round the driving license by having a provisional license even if you live in central London and have zero want or need to drive it's worth having it will be accepted as ID/proof of age anywhere 

Everywhere except Asda! lol

 

Plus, not all of us can have a provisional licence, so it's not good for everyone

Edited April 1, 2018 by Liana Wildmist

[Claireschen Hesten]

6 minutes ago, Skell Dagger said:

Agreed, but that can be applied for from two months before your 17th birthday, while you're still 16. Which mean a provisional license is no guarantee that someone is over the age of majority in the UK.

They have your date of birth on. on the photo card it's numbered 3. beneath your either first/last or last/first name

[Cindy Evanier]

My driving licence is that old and moth eaten nobody will be able to read the DOB.  This might be the prompt I need to finally request a card version.

[Phil Deakins]

30 minutes ago, Skell Dagger said:

Agreed, but that can be applied for from two months before your 17th birthday, while you're still 16. Which mean a provisional license is no guarantee that someone is over the age of majority in the UK.

It's not the age of majority, is it? (I only read the first paragraph on the page you linked to). It should be the age of consent, which is 16 in the UK, so a provisional driving license should be fine.

ETA: What is the age of majority in the UK these days, anyway? It used to be 21, then it came down to 18, and now people can vote at 16. The age of consent hasn't changed in all that time though. Not as far as I know, anyway.

Edited April 1, 2018 by Phil Deakins

[Phil Deakins]

Answering my own question in the previous post:-

The UNCRC defines children, for the purposes of the Convention, as persons under the age 18, unless domestic legislation provides otherwise. In that spirit, this timeline includes as children all those below the UK age of majority, which was 21 until 1970 when it was reduced to 18.

So using the age of majority for a sex matter seems a bit silly to me when our age of consent to sex is 16.

Edited April 1, 2018 by Phil Deakins