UK porn block is a 'privacy timebomb' watchdog warns

The age-verifying ID checks to be instigated in the UK’s new porn block could expose people’s personal data alongside their sexual fantasies, experts warn.

The porn block is intended to keep children from viewing adult material online, but will require all legal porn viewers to submit personal records to prove their age.

Researchers are cautioning that proposed regulations to protect this personal data is woefully inadequate, turning the impending porn block into a ‘privacy timebomb’. 

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The age-verifying ID checks to be instigated in the UK’s new porn block could expose people’s personal data alongside their sexual fantasies, experts warn (stock pic)

The age-verification checks will come into effect against UK-based porn viewers on July 15, 2019.

Commercial providers of online adult material will be required to implement ID checks or face sanctions.

However, the measures have sparked controversy, with concerns that the age-verification system could present a juicy target for hackers looking for blackmail material or to steal personal data.

These criticisms are now joined by a study from digital privacy watchdog the Open Rights Group, which cautions that the data protection regulations currently in place to protect users’ private data is ‘vague, imprecise and largely a “tick box” exercise.’

‘With one month until roll-out, the UK porn block is a privacy timebomb,’ a spokesperson for the Open Rights Group wrote in the report.

With an estimated 20 million UK adults being porn viewers — around two in every five adults — any privacy breaches could have wide-reaching consequences. 

‘Due to the sensitive nature of age verification data, there needs to be a higher standard of protection than the baseline which is offered by data protection legislation,’ Open Rights Group executive director Jim Killock told the Independent.

‘The BBFC’s standard is supposed to deliver this,’ he added.

The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) is responsible for enforcing the new regulations, which will include sanctioning non-complaint websites and enforcing any data-protection requirements.

‘However, it is a voluntary standard, which offers little information about the level of data protection being offered and provides no means of redress if companies fail to live up to it.’

The standard, in Mr Killock’s eyes, is therefore ‘pointless and misleading’.

The age-verification measures will cover not only paid porn sites, but also their ad-supported, free-to-view counterparts like PornHub and RedTube (stock pic)

The UK government insists, however, that the new policies are needed to stop children from accessing adult-only materials.

‘This is a world-leading step forward to protect our children from adult content which is currently far too easy to access online,’ a spokesperson for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport said earlier this year.

A recent YouGov poll suggests that around 76 per cent of the British public is not aware of the age-verification checks that are soon to come into force. 

Critics have suggested that the measures may be easy to bypass — both for computer-savvy young people, as well as those looking to avoid registering to view pornography online due to privacy concerns.

One method to bypass the ID checks would be to use a virtual private network, or VPN, which would allow users to appear to be in a different country and therefore beyond the reach of the UK-based registration policy.

Searches for VPNs tripled on Google’s search engine immediately after the UK government announced the start date for the new porn-blocking measures, the Independent reported in April 2019.

One method to bypass the ID checks on pornographic sites would be to use a virtual private network, or VPN, which would allow users to appear to be in a different country and therefore beyond the reach of the UK-based registration policy