Internet Porn Site Regulation

Brexit seems to have pushed back AV to 2019.

The Telegraph say an announcement is due this week "over an expected delay in the introduction of the age verification for porn sites. It had been anticipated [the DCMS] would lay the BBFC’s guidance before Parliament before the summer recess but it is now thought this will be delayed until the autumn."
(https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/07...ole-rules/ )

At last, something positive in the news, caused by all this Brexit bollocks.

U.K.'s Crown Prosecution Service Seeks to Revise 'Obscenity' Laws

LONDON — The U.K.’s Crown Prosecution Service today launched a public consultation effort to help revise legal guidance to the country’s “obscenity” laws.

The Crown Prosecution Service said that a 12-week public comment period, starting today, will offer assistance to prosecutors making charging decisions in cases that fall under the U.K.’s Obscene Publications Act of 1959.

“When complete, it is anticipated that the revised legal guidance will come into effect in late 2018,” the Crown Prosecution Service said in a statement.

The Obscene Publications Act of 1959 makes it a crime to publish material which might “deprave or corrupt” those who are likely to see, read, or hear it.

Now, the Crown Prosecution Service could change make some alterations to it after hearing from the public.

“The guidance is being revised to provide more clarity about what an ‘obscene’ publication” might be and places an increased focus on those who may view this material which may determine whether a criminal offence has been committed,” the Crown Prosecution Service said.

“Prosecutors might also consider other offences when dealing with ‘obscene publications,’ for example outraging public decency, possession of an extreme pornographic image, disclosing private sexual images without consent, and offences against the Malicious Communications Act 1988 and Electronic Communications Act 2003.”

U.K. industry lawyer Myles Jackman, known as the “obscenity” attorney in the country where he practices, called the consultation effort “a watershed moment in U.K. ‘obscenity’ law.”

“The consultation on the Obscene Publication Prosecution Guidance may return a liberal result that effectively decriminalizes content depicting consensual sexual activities,” Jackman told XBIZ today.

“This would be an enormous victory for free speech for performers and consumers of adult content in the U.K., with an inevitable benefit to the economy, as well as enshrining consent culture in U.K. law.”

The consultation will run for 12 weeks through Oct. 17. The current legal guidance is available here.

Consultation is framed within five Crown Prosecution Service questions that can be responded to online and through the mail. The questions are:

Do consultees agree or disagree with the guidance that the showing or realistic depiction of sexual activity / pornography which constitutes acts or conduct contrary to the criminal law is (subject to the statutory defenses) likely to be obscene?
Do consultees agree or disagree with the guidance that prosecutors must exercise real caution when dealing with the moral nature of acts not criminalized by law, and that the showing or realistic depiction of sexual activity / pornography which does not constitute acts or conduct contrary to the criminal law is unlikely to be obscene?
Do consultees agree or disagree with the guidance that prosecutors, when assessing obscenity, should consider: Whether the activity is consensual; whether or not serious harm is caused; whether or not it is inextricably linked with other criminality; and whether the likely audience is not under 18 or otherwise vulnerable.
Do consultees agree or disagree with the guidance that the showing or realistic depiction of other acts or conduct which are contrary to the criminal law is also capable of being obscene?
Do consultees have any further suggestions for guidance to prosecutors in assessing “obscenity” when considering allegations falling under the Obscene Publications Act 1959?
To respond to the Crown Prosecution Service’s consultation, click here for the questions. Once downloaded and answers are completed, send back to dla.team@cps.gov.uk by midnight (GMT) on Oct. 17. Include your name, organization, address, telephone number and email address in the response.

https://www.xbiz.com/news/237512/u-k-s-c...enity-laws

porn regulation becomes very tricky these days and bringin' authors of sources to responsobelity very hard, syte migh be posted on baghamas, the author himself in bolivia, but trademark is somewhere in papua new gauenea ...

A dark day today...

We've seen much mission creep on internet censorship from this goverment over the last few years. Now we get the first proper public toe in the water mention of your full blown Ofcom of the internet: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-45590297

The White Paper needs to wake people up to what this country is becoming on censorship.

^ Indeed.

Post-Brexit UK, freed of the ECHR and ECJ, is ripe for ever greater repression, and any so-called Bill of Rights won't, in all likelihood, be worth the paper it's written on.

Welcome to the Brave New World...

Wouldn’t surprise me this is another example of the government & ofcom acting tough yet ultimately nothing happens just like with what happened to age verification on porn sites got a lot of indications it was going ahead yet has got kicked into the long grass till at least the end of the year.

Plus how will they get the social media sites to conform given they are based outside uk jurisdiction

BBFc have launched an age verification website

The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) is independent and not-for-profit, and here to help everyone in the UK - especially children and families - choose age-appropriate films, videos and websites, wherever and however they watch or use them.


https://www.ageverificationregulator.com/about

Don't think there's much new here, but worth a couple minutes read anyhow :

https://www.theverge.com/2018/10/18/1799...es-privacy

EDIT :

Just saw this (sorta) critical piece on the Guardian site as well :

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2...age-checks

Age restrictions on porn websites delayed by government again

Age restrictions on porn websites have been delayed by government again, the digital minister has told MPs.

Margot James said checks, which had been due to come into force by the end of December, are now being pushed back until Easter.


The minister said the system was still yet to be agreed by parliament and once that happened there would need to be a three month period to allow the industry to implement the checks.

The verification system had initially be slated to start in April this year but has been pushed back a number of times as the government and adult industry have grappled with how it will work in practice.

Under the current scheme adult websites will have to provide their own verification software, which will then have to meet standards and checks carried out by the British Board of Film Classification.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/11...government