UK to start blocking pornsites April 2018

[stickyvicky]

Only users from UK. They say they will somehow block people from using VPN's also? How can they do that?

[Andrew35]

not sure how one can do that, hopefully, one of our more tech-savvy members could enlighten us on how a vpn could get blocked

[stickyvicky]

They said by blocking it at the ISP level? Not sure exactly what that means?

[WalterB]

Isn't most all (if not all) blocking/tracking/whatever done using the IP address? Not sure how they'd block something that generates fake IPs that can be from anywhere.

[George B]

Isn't most all (if not all) blocking/tracking/whatever done using the IP address? Not sure how they'd block something that generates fake IPs that can be from anywhere.

There are other protocols involved that make it a little more complicated but you are essentially correct.

Moves like these are effective at blocking the most basic users, but VPN access might even be cheaper and less hassle than the access cards (these cards will also be stolen, shared and otherwise exploited as well). Ultimately it will be ineffective in its proposed goal, however I have no doubt someone is getting fat kickbacks from this "moral" legislation.

[George B]

not sure how one can do that, hopefully, one of our more tech-savvy members could enlighten us on how a vpn could get blocked

Although VPN traffic is securely encrypted so that 3rd parties (such as the hosting ISPs) are unable to view the data being transferred between connected peers, the VPN companies engaging in this type of business are still subject to the law in the jurisdiction they’re in.

Companies may be compelled by court order and international agreements between countries to share information in these cases or otherwise enforce these rules in their terms of service to remain compliant and operational.

[Kevin2105]

I'm in the UK and a member of 2 pay sites, this one and lelulove.com.

I do pay for a VPN and it seems to be pretty good with faster speeds than I expected but I'm not currently using it for either of the 2 pay sites I use.

When the ridiculous law comes into force though I will use the VPN, I don't really want my details going onto the UK governments 'porn database.'

[stickyvicky]

Welcome to your first post Kevin! Glad you are here! And if you think it's a pain for you? I have no idea what we are going to do! So many varied opinions? Just ignore it? Assume everywone will use VPN's? Does it matter to us if we are not in google search in the entire UK?

[WalterB]

Welcome, Kevin. Thanks for joining up with us. We’re always glad to welcome new members. As for what’s going on in the UK, I can’t imagine what it’s going to be like for everybody. I know how hard Vicky works on this site, she’s been recently working on issues to get them squared away. I can’t imagine what she may have to go through to comply with these rules, or what you folks in England may have to go through. It’s a major PITA, for sure. But in any case, welcome to the forum

[Kevin2105]

There will be a few companies to go to for age verification, the main one is likely to be owned by Mindgeek, who also own Pornhub.

It would seem that there's also no mandatory privacy built into the legislation which is another black mark against age verification. I do wonder how many people will go into their local shop and ask for a card which will allow them to view online porn, while most brits enjoy porn it isn't something we particularly want everyone else to know about, I know I don't.

Another worry for me is this, will the porn block just be the start of online censorship in the UK?

Kevin

[stickyvicky]

Yep, once you go down that road, where does it stop?

[Kevin2105]

It'll end with just about everything being banned. The conservative party (our current government) does have form with banning what they don't like, back in the 80's they introduced the video recordings act which stopped the sale of any video unless it had a certificate, this hit hardcore porn and also horror movies like original Evil Dead.

[stickyvicky]

Looks like it may be postponed again? Boy they must be embarrassed? Talk about egg on your face! I'm learning from this! Don't try to threaten something that you can't possibly enforce! I feel really bad for them because they mean well. The intention is good, it just doesn't work logistically.

[Kevin2105]

I hope it's 'postponed' forever. This is what happens when clueless MP's have a knee-jerk reaction to ridiculous headlines in newspapers about children supposedly stumbling onto porn.

[stickyvicky]

You got your wish Kevin! It was set to go into effect on July 15th, and now it has been postponed again this time in definitely!

I'm so glad we didn't invest a whole lot of time and money and Technology into this!

https://www.xbiz.com/news/244913/u-k-ag ... definitely

[Kevin2105]

You got your wish Kevin! It was set to go into effect on July 15th, and now it has been postponed again this time in definitely!

I'm so glad we didn't invest a whole lot of time and money and Technology into this!

https://www.xbiz.com/news/244913/u-k-ag ... definitely

Yay, let's hope that our next prime minister doesn't decide to try again. There's more about it here
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/ ... definitely

It seems there was also a possibility that mainstream websites could have had a type of age verification that is even mentioned in the article above. Was porn simply the start of a downward slope into internet censorship?