Your ID, please
March 16, 2019 2:11 PM   Subscribe

UK to require ID upload to limit access to online porn by young people. The UK will soon block all porn sites and require strict age verification for anyone seeking access to online porn (Guardian link, totally SFW). Persons wishing to view any porn sites will need to upload a passport or driver’s license onto a gatekeeping site, or purchase a porn pass for £4.99 from designated dealers.
posted by stillmoving (76 comments total) 18 users marked this as a favorite


 
“porn pass”


This is not the dystopia I was promised.
posted by darkstar at 2:16 PM on March 16, 2019 [28 favorites]


Seems like a good thing for the government to be focusing on right now.
posted by Caduceus at 2:19 PM on March 16, 2019 [121 favorites]


Tories: embracing the left will lead to an Orwellian surveillance state!
Also Tories: let us keep a master list of all porn users and what they get off on and also everyone should use private apps that track thier movement and sleep in order to take part in social services.
posted by The Whelk at 2:20 PM on March 16, 2019 [87 favorites]


I'm sure there's zero potential for this to be used to blackmail or humiliate people for what they view. None at all.
posted by Ferreous at 2:20 PM on March 16, 2019 [22 favorites]


What is the age requirement for using a VPN going to be?
posted by jacquilynne at 2:21 PM on March 16, 2019 [65 favorites]


It'll be really, really interesting to see how this affects media fandom organizations like the AO3.

First thought: glad I'm not there.

Second thought: My goodness, I can think of a lot of corners of discussion that are going to hit people very very hard on this sort of thing. Are sites like Scarleteen exempt? What counts as porn, here?
posted by sciatrix at 2:21 PM on March 16, 2019 [14 favorites]


British users wishing to view porn will have to do so through a proxy perver.
posted by acb at 2:24 PM on March 16, 2019 [37 favorites]


what about page 3 girls?
posted by thegirlwiththehat at 2:26 PM on March 16, 2019 [19 favorites]


Some version of this system exists already - UK ISPs, including cellphone companies, already block many websites with adult content and require proof of age to unlock. That proof of age needs to be in the form of a passport or driving license, which is presumably crosschecked with a govt database. So a register of filthy deviants likely exists already, to some extent. The danger here is that fewer actors are going to have more personally identifying and more granular information about people. The good news is that the existing system is easily evaded with a VPN and the same will probably apply to the new system as well.
posted by chappell, ambrose at 2:28 PM on March 16, 2019 [3 favorites]


When wanking is outlawed, only outlaws will wank.
posted by biffa at 2:29 PM on March 16, 2019 [39 favorites]


Does this apply to Usenet?
posted by porn in the woods at 2:33 PM on March 16, 2019 [7 favorites]


It'll be really, really interesting to see how this affects media fandom organizations like the AO3.

As it says in the article, this is aimed at commercial pornography sites. AO3 is a non-profit.
posted by betweenthebars at 2:37 PM on March 16, 2019 [3 favorites]


They're about the tank the world economy because of their inability to deal with Brexit, but at least the recession will have less underage viewing of porn in the UK!
posted by hippybear at 2:41 PM on March 16, 2019 [12 favorites]


Hack the Gibson kids.
posted by sammyo at 2:55 PM on March 16, 2019 [2 favorites]


Pornography is a dark, exploitative business that seems to inevitably attract the worst kind of people. Consequently, it is vital that we give them our personal information and pay them to track us.
posted by Joe in Australia at 2:57 PM on March 16, 2019 [50 favorites]


are they taking any similar steps to ensure online sex workers are consenting adults, or is this the standard, conservative, morality police posturing?

this question is rhetorical.
posted by dudemanlives at 2:59 PM on March 16, 2019 [13 favorites]


As it says in the article, this is aimed at commercial pornography sites. AO3 is a non-profit.

Ah, so the uploaded-by-amateurs stuff is all fine then?
posted by sciatrix at 3:07 PM on March 16, 2019 [1 favorite]


THIS is why y'all are leaving the EU? Harsh.

I am going to assume that VPNs will be going on sale pretty soon.
posted by jadepearl at 3:07 PM on March 16, 2019 [3 favorites]


So what exactly do they consider to be pornographic? Like, what is considered art (pinup, etc) to one person can be considered porn by someone else. Is it like Tumblr, where if a female nipple *clutches pearls* is shown it's considered porn?
posted by littlesq at 3:08 PM on March 16, 2019


I mean...As a parent, I‘d rather have my own kids be in danger of discovering porn, than whatever this is. And I hate most porn content.
posted by Omnomnom at 3:16 PM on March 16, 2019 [5 favorites]


Is there any VPN stock I can buy today?
posted by howfar at 3:17 PM on March 16, 2019 [6 favorites]


But stupid jokes aside, this is monstrous, in part because it's so easy to circumvent for people with certain kinds of privilege, which means that the exposure is mostly focused on the poorer and more vulnerable, as ever under the fucking Tories.
posted by howfar at 3:28 PM on March 16, 2019 [19 favorites]


Meanwhile Facebook, YouTube, etc. are struggling to contain videos of graphic violence from the NZ mosque terrorist attack. No ID needed to view that, thank goodness.
posted by Greg_Ace at 3:41 PM on March 16, 2019 [17 favorites]


As usual, from the Guardian nowadays, this is a complete load of bullshit.
posted by Burn_IT at 3:47 PM on March 16, 2019 [1 favorite]


Burn_IT, how is this BS? I want to understand this and not trying to be rude.
posted by jadepearl at 4:04 PM on March 16, 2019 [6 favorites]


Just remember, if you're a grown-up, purchase a few extra porn passes and leave them by the railway sidings for the youth.
posted by delfin at 4:58 PM on March 16, 2019 [26 favorites]


Guardian article seems accurate enough to me.

The Digital Economy Act 2017, in addition to requiring ISPs implement porn filters except for those who opt out, also includes "Creating an age-verification regulator to publish guidelines about how pornographic websites which operate "on a commercial basis" should ensure their users are aged 18 or older. The regulator is empowered to fine those who fail to comply up to £250,000 (or up to 5% of their turnover), to order the blocking of non-compliant websites, and to require those providing financial or advertising services to non-compliant websites to cease doing so."

That regulator is the BBFC, who've left it to the porn sites to pick a method, of which there are a number. We're just waiting for the final 'launch' date to be announced.

AgeID is owned by MindGeek, the same company that owns pornhub, redtube and youporn and likely to be one of the bigger providers. After confirming your email, they say that age verification by credit card, driving licence or passport is handled by a third party provider and they don't see the additional personal information.

There are multiple different providers of such ID-verification services, so if you visit multiple sites, you'll likely be having to create accounts on all of them along with giving the necessary ID for proof of age.

We can of course trust each and every one of these companies to be entirely above board, protect that data extremely carefully with the sensitivity it deserves, and never ever use it for any additional purpose. If we can trust big companies like Yahoo, eBay, Adobe, Dropbox, Equifax, Facebook and Google to never expose people's data, I'm just as sure we won't be seeing any adult sites like AdultFriendFinder or Ashley Madison suffer any embarrassing security breaches, no siree Bob.

Nor will teens start using dodgy VPNs to try and bypass the ban, or going to sketchy sites that ignore it, exposing them to all sorts of malware attacks - such as hypothetically using a trojan to take control of the laptop camera for blackmail.
posted by Absolutely No You-Know-What at 5:03 PM on March 16, 2019 [31 favorites]


I don't agree with this solution, but I do agree with the sentiment. I do believe that the current generation of young people are getting a harmful and distorted view of sex from the porn that's readily available.

I can't remember who said it, but I recently read a comment that was, "Learning about sex from pornography is like learning how to drive from watching Fast and Furious movies." That seemed accurate and apt to me, despite it's pithiness.

And yes, I realize this has a 'But who will think of the children?!" vibe to it. I don't consider myself a prude or a pearl-clutcher, but I feel bad for the young boys who's first experience with sex is violent or aggressive portrayals that are so easily sourced; I feel worse for the young girls who'll encounter those boys.
posted by dobbs at 5:07 PM on March 16, 2019 [18 favorites]


I can't remember who said it, but I recently read a comment that was, "Learning about sex from pornography is like learning how to drive from watching Fast and Furious movies.

The non-asinine solution to this problem being comprehensive sexual education.
posted by tobascodagama at 5:31 PM on March 16, 2019 [82 favorites]


I can't remember who said it, but I recently read a comment that was, "Learning about sex from pornography is like learning how to drive from watching Fast and Furious movies."

The tragedy being that the Fast & Furious movies are an order of magnitude more helpful and wholesome than this weird surveillance state program. Perhaps May and her Cabinet should be required to upload personal data before springing their prurient ideas on a beleaguered nation. One panopticon for me; another for thee, as the kids say.
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:38 PM on March 16, 2019 [5 favorites]


Is it just me, or has the entire English-speaking world become a hotbed of bad ideas? I also wonder what this will do for sales of old-fashioned printed porn in the UK.
posted by TedW at 6:10 PM on March 16, 2019 [15 favorites]


Where is this new wave of anti-porn puritanism coming from?
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 8:18 PM on March 16, 2019 [3 favorites]


The same place all the other waves of anti-porn puritanism came from?
posted by hippybear at 8:32 PM on March 16, 2019 [8 favorites]


And yes, I realize this has a 'But who will think of the children?!" vibe to it. I don't consider myself a prude or a pearl-clutcher, but I feel bad for the young boys who's first experience with sex is violent or aggressive portrayals that are so easily sourced; I feel worse for the young girls who'll encounter those boys.

Speaking from experience, what is left when you block mainstream porn sites is not a healthy view of sex education, it's the stuff mainstream porn sites won't host.
posted by Zalzidrax at 8:34 PM on March 16, 2019 [20 favorites]


Don't want to do that annoying thing where people talk about the thing they're not going to talk about, but I was proper chewing this one over on my way to work today, to the extent that I was brainstorming writing to my MP. I have never written to my MP, not on Blunkett/Straw's ID cards and not on Brexit (mostly because I've been lucky enough to have representation I was reasonably happy with on those issues).

Not claiming a special perspective but this affects me on multiple angles, not just as Porn Consumer #[unixtime] - which is the level of sheer stupid incompetence I expect this to be implemented at.

Because I don't want to completely go off on one in all directions, I'll note/highlight that the £4.99 Porn Pass from your local newsagent is per-device. Get a new phone? New Porn Pass! Get a new laptop? New Porn Pass! Get a new gfx card? New Porn Pass! Have any trouble with the porn-blocking/unblocking system recognising your Porn Pass? Go kick off at the local newsagents, who sell papers, fags, Paypoint top-up and SIM cards but aren't actually responsible for the workings or pricing of any of them, nor for you not getting your horn on - blame the fuckwits who dreamt up and couldn't begin to properly implement Universal Credit. Of course their similarly minimum-wage not-responsible representatives"delivering" that at least get to hide behind G4S security.

God save whoever's creaming it off at the top.
posted by I'm always feeling, Blue at 9:28 PM on March 16, 2019 [7 favorites]


Gah! That wasn't meant to become a rant. That was very rant.
posted by I'm always feeling, Blue at 9:28 PM on March 16, 2019 [1 favorite]


Curriculum vitae.
Hoc quoque transibit.
posted by clavdivs at 9:33 PM on March 16, 2019 [1 favorite]


It was Creaming It Off The Top 3: The Creamiest where the series really started to find its way.
posted by hippybear at 9:37 PM on March 16, 2019 [14 favorites]


Given that UK transphobes (and their supporting papers and politicians) are directly linked to evangelical conservatives in the US, its inevitable that this law will be used to target trans people. Personal blogs, Youtube channels and Facebook accounts from trans people will be reclassified as porn and require licenses. But that's just the start. The end goal for the transphobes will be to do the same to all LGBTIQ websites, as well as anything related to family planning and sex education.

Think I'm being paranoid? Taking it to the irrational extreme? Well, 10 years ago, would you think a law like this would ever get passed?

We're heading into a new era of legislated Victorian morality. The UK is the test case, the US will be next.
posted by happyroach at 11:52 PM on March 16, 2019 [30 favorites]




Someone on reddit planned on buying pornpasses.co.uk and selling them for £20 each no questions asked. Either way, this is going to be interesting.
posted by Ms. Moonlight at 3:18 AM on March 17, 2019


Oh and this is another of Cameron's legacies... what a marvelous Prime Minister he was
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 4:30 AM on March 17, 2019 [1 favorite]


The one-device pornpass will be £4.99, but there's going to be an unlimited-devices (just registered in one day) version for £8.99.

Here is a business model for parents of kids below the legal age of responsibility (12 in England/Wales, IIRC):

* Every school day, spend £8.99 on an unlimited-devices porn pass

* Leave pass on kitchen table, where $OFFSPRING can swipe it (hint: plausible deniability)

* $OFFSPRING then charges £5 a shot outside the school gates to log other kids in

As far as the police are concerned, it costs vastly more to police this "crime" than the penalty justifies, so they'll ignore it unless there are loud howls of outrage. The kids buying the passes aren't going to complain: maybe a few of their parents will, if they're stupid enough to get caught, but "I bought it from a small kid, don't know his name".

Of course the kid is going to have to offload their cash takings regularly or risk being mugged. And if too successful, there are money laundering implications. But frankly, this is easier than obtaining ciggies/booze while underage. Hell, you probably don't even need the in-person sales force: sell access codes via text message?
posted by cstross at 5:05 AM on March 17, 2019 [11 favorites]


I do believe that the current generation of young people are getting a harmful and distorted view of sex from the porn that's readily available.

Also things young people get harmful and distorted views of:

You can outrun explosive shockwaves. (every action movie ever)
Jumping on top of bad guys makes them go away. (platformer video games)
Hitting things while driving gives you points. (many racing games)
Polluting disasters and accidents can give you super powers. (every teen TV show)
Many people have unknown evil twins (every soap opera)
FTL travel will be available soon (every sci fi novel)

Most recent evidence points to kids these days have a shockingly healthy and knowledgeable view of sex even as people try to keep all information about it, accurate or not, away from them. They are even having less of it which is kind of incredible.
posted by srboisvert at 5:27 AM on March 17, 2019 [6 favorites]


Also things young people get harmful and distorted views of: …
I oppose laws like this but that’s not really an effective counterargument because it’s conflating common and uncommon things. Most kids will never see an explosion, combat, etc. and they know that whereas interpersonal relations are common and there’s a lot of nasty cultural reinforcement. There are so many stories of young people having “am I/isn’t she supposed to enjoy this?” experiences to suggest that there is a real problem, even if the prudes are committed to tackling it in maximally-destructive ways.
posted by adamsc at 6:18 AM on March 17, 2019 [8 favorites]


...what is left when you block mainstream porn sites is not a healthy view of sex education, it's the stuff mainstream porn sites won't host.
If the goal is to actually protect and nurture the youth, then that's a failure, of course. On the other hand, if the real goal is the moral crusade itself, the reactionary re-establishment of simplistic social mores of old, then that's absolutely a success. The nastiness of what's left makes the case for the rules that much stronger.
posted by Western Infidels at 7:20 AM on March 17, 2019 [6 favorites]


At first glance, this makes sense -- IDs are required for other age-restricted items, so why not porn? This can appear equivalent.

However, this is also analogous to more than just showing your ID -- it's also analogous to allowing them to make a color copy of it. That's where I start to have concerns. The "porn pass" is a better idea than giving digital copies of your personal identification to pornographers.
posted by phenylphenol at 7:30 AM on March 17, 2019


Meanwhile Facebook, YouTube, etc. are struggling to contain videos of graphic violence from the NZ mosque terrorist attack. No ID needed to view that, thank goodness

Also the right wing rhetoric that inspired it.
posted by Artw at 7:33 AM on March 17, 2019 [6 favorites]


On the other hand, why have the age requirement at all? Let the kids know what it's all about.

I kinda see it as the shadow of the modern feminist movement, which sometimes seems to focus on feeling "unsafe," and calls on men to become gentlemen again, and protect women -- the Gillette ad is a good example of this. Of course, this is the set of gender role expectations that conservatives have been in favor of this entire time.

It's really an interesting era of political and social realignment right now, and I guess we have the internet to thank for that.
posted by phenylphenol at 7:34 AM on March 17, 2019


As well as the numerous other problems with this, the fact that one of the largest providers of age verification, which will also be a requirement for adult sites to operate, operates its own large-scale network of adult sites. It's an anticompetitive arrangement just waiting in the wings.
posted by pykrete jungle at 9:25 AM on March 17, 2019 [1 favorite]


the modern feminist movement, which sometimes seems to focus on feeling "unsafe," and calls on men to become gentlemen again, and protect women

The modern feminist solution to women being rendered unsafe by men is not that other men should step in with protective chivalry. It’s that the unsafe men should be, for example—depending on what they’ve done—fired or jailed or both. That’s got nothing to do with chivalry: modern feminism doesn’t mind at all if the bosses, police, and judiciary who impose the sanctions are women.
posted by Aravis76 at 10:00 AM on March 17, 2019 [23 favorites]


Modern feminism is a lot more sex positive than earlier waves and focuses a lot on safety and fairness for sex workers, so I don’t see the connection with modern feminism and the regressive politics of AgeID and, in the US, FOSTA/SESTA. Actually, what we’re seeing is the political spoils of the anti-feminist backlash. The UK Conservative Party and the US Republicans aren’t exactly on the leading edge of feminist thought (for that matter, neither are mainstream liberals and democrats...) but 20th century moralism is easier to push in a MAGA/Brexit world.
posted by Skwirl at 10:35 AM on March 17, 2019 [12 favorites]


Because Skexies love Gelfling!
posted by Oyéah at 10:39 AM on March 17, 2019


The UK has been an even more intense surveillance state than the US for quite some time. I recall on recent visits simply feeling that it had become a police state, where your every move was always covered by a camera somewhere. And I assume the British intelligence services know what everyone is doing online anyway.

China has cracked down on VPN use as a workaround for its state censorship and surveillance. Gotta believe that’s coming to the west soon too. Citizen, what is your purpose?

We need a new internet.
posted by spitbull at 11:43 AM on March 17, 2019 [4 favorites]


I’m amused at the quote from the AgeID guy telling people that no personal information is collected and thus can’t be leaked, because apparently uploading a copy of your passport or drivers license doesn’t constitute collection of personal information. Even if it’s going to a 3rd party, what the F do you think the 3rd party is going to assume it is for, when they are receiving copies of licenses and processing £4.99 payments simultaneously?

The fact that it’s a 3rd party handling the information does not bode well for security, there’s even less accountability there.
posted by caution live frogs at 11:49 AM on March 17, 2019 [5 favorites]


Meanwhile Facebook, YouTube, etc. are struggling to contain videos of graphic violence from the NZ mosque terrorist attack. No ID needed to view that, thank goodness

Also the right wing rhetoric that inspired it.


Those services aren't struggling to contain murderous, hateful right-wing rhetoric. Mostly they're doing their best to amplify it.
posted by IAmUnaware at 1:19 PM on March 17, 2019 [5 favorites]


China has cracked down on VPN use as a workaround for its state censorship and surveillance. Gotta believe that’s coming to the west soon too. Citizen, what is your purpose?

The Computer Is Your Friend
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 3:52 PM on March 17, 2019


Gonna be soft Brexits all round when this passes.
posted by turbid dahlia at 4:11 PM on March 17, 2019 [6 favorites]


Sexit
posted by chavenet at 4:31 PM on March 17, 2019


Thread soundtrack: “New Puritan”
posted by porn in the woods at 4:57 PM on March 17, 2019


cstross: "Of course the kid is going to have to offload their cash takings regularly or risk being mugged. And if too successful, there are money laundering implications. But frankly, this is easier than obtaining ciggies/booze while underage. Hell, you probably don't even need the in-person sales force: sell access codes via text message?"

The kids by definition have internet access; unlimited codes will be shared for free and widely available on both sneaker and inter Net.

adamsc: " There are so many stories of young people having “am I/isn’t she supposed to enjoy this?” experiences to suggest that there is a real problem, even if the prudes are committed to tackling it in maximally-destructive ways."

While not ideal is it worse than young people having no clue? I have no idea and tend to oscillate between the states.

winterhill: "It's a funny police state that has fewer police than ten years ago."

Not to argue the police stateness of the UK one way or the other but that link states the number of police "officers" has dropped; the guys manning the cameras and deploying/operating tracking software in myriad forms for a police state will be technicians/operators/engineers/etc. And likely contractors to boot.

Plus those numbers don't include anti-terrorism officers who with their constitution side steppping powers I'd imagine would constitute the core of a police state enforcement arm.
posted by Mitheral at 8:16 PM on March 17, 2019 [1 favorite]


I blame The Korova Milkbar.
posted by clavdivs at 8:26 PM on March 17, 2019 [2 favorites]


Where is this new wave of anti-porn puritanism coming from?

Mary Whitehouse, "If they didn't show it on the screen, most people would never know about oral sex."
posted by unliteral at 8:54 PM on March 17, 2019


I kinda see it as the shadow of the modern feminist movement,

It really isn't. Some of it may be remnants of the anti sex elements of Second Wave "all sex is rape" feminism, but a lot of it is coming from TERFs, with backing from American evangelical organizations. It's becoming more and more apparent that TERFs were allied with or members of social conservative activist organizations, specifically evangelicals and conservative Catholics.

This is really part of a broad-based and organized assault on sexual liberty. And as I said, it's just the start. Get ready for the "birth control pass" to come down the pike.
posted by happyroach at 11:37 PM on March 17, 2019 [4 favorites]


More cameras equal the need for fewer actual police. They disappear more easily and make people forget they’re being policed.

And it was in Oxford, not London, that I noticed there was virtually no escape from cameras in public places. I live in downtown NYC and it isn’t even as extensive here.

Not that the US isn’t headed the same way. Who here took the Facebook ten year challenge?
posted by spitbull at 4:53 AM on March 18, 2019 [1 favorite]


While not ideal is it worse than young people having no clue? I have no idea and tend to oscillate between the states.
I’d prefer the “comprehensive education so everyone has a clue” option but in this case I think it would be better not to think you know what you’re supposed to do since that often leads people to ignore or misinterpret contrary evidence longer. This seems especially bad to me in a culture with so much regular reinforcement of toxic behavior always ready to support continued not getting a clue because you think you already have one.
posted by adamsc at 5:54 AM on March 18, 2019


I think is a bad idea for all the obvious privacy and identity theft reasons, but is there a way to have this discussion in a way that acknowledges how racist and misogynistic a lot of mainstream porn is? I'm seeing a lot of shrugging/dismissiveness on this point that I don't understand.
posted by CatastropheWaitress at 7:44 AM on March 18, 2019 [3 favorites]


There's likely a way to have that discussion, but this isn't about the actual content of porn and is rather about a country's attempt to limit access to porn.

I acknowledge that the content of porn is problematic in all kinds of ways, but that's a different discussion thread entirely.
posted by hippybear at 8:03 AM on March 18, 2019 [7 favorites]


There's likely a way to have that discussion, but this isn't about the actual content of porn and is rather about a country's attempt to limit access to porn.

I acknowledge that the content of porn is problematic in all kinds of ways, but that's a different discussion thread entirely.


Well, I guess this is where I'm out of step with prevailing Metafilter opinion on porn. I'm fine with young people having limited access to mainstream porn, because of the content is, more often than not, misogynistic and racist. I just don't like the methods discussed here. I feel the same way about violence and are happy keeping young people from seeing graphic violence before a certain age.
posted by CatastropheWaitress at 8:40 AM on March 18, 2019 [1 favorite]


I'm fine with young people having limited access to mainstream porn, because of the content is, more often than not, misogynistic and racist.

Except it almost certainly won't happen that way. If this stops young people in the UK from getting access to mainstream consumer porn -- with the misogyny and racism -- I'll eat my hat. It will effectively police the sexuality of marginalized people, though. Same as it ever was.
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 10:18 AM on March 18, 2019 [8 favorites]


I'm fine with young people having limited access to mainstream porn, because of the content is, more often than not, misogynistic and racist.

Porn filters, when they miss something, tend to miss stuff around the margins. When I was a kid figuring out what the filter my parents had would and won't block, I found that it was pretty good at keeping me from regular naked people, but bad at more niche content. The niche content was not an improvement in this regard.
posted by vibratory manner of working at 10:49 AM on March 18, 2019 [2 favorites]


Fucking tories. Can we build a model village on that anthrax island and just ship them there with a cargo container full of mirror universe anti sex dolls to externalise their repressed shame on?
posted by lucidium at 4:28 PM on March 18, 2019 [3 favorites]


Couple of relevant links by way of follow up (found deep in a semi-related BBC website article about the lack of study into female porn addiction, itself worth discussing separately).

AgeID which re-affirms what cstross said correcting me above about the existence of £8.99 Any Device passes. I'd be interested to hear input from any knowledgeable German Mefites regarding their claims that "AgeID is a secure online age verification tool, successfully implemented in Germany since 2015 in compliance with the German Media Authority regulations" and that "It has verified tens of thousands of visitors". Isn't Germany a nation of millions?

Portes.is which is apparently the site for the company doing the heavy lifting. They talk a good game, I especially like the focus on confirming status not identity and the fallacy of requiring the latter where only the former needs to be verified. Still slimy-as-fuck middlemen who want their data-fondling tenatacle-app on your phone though.
posted by I'm always feeling, Blue at 8:27 PM on March 18, 2019 [1 favorite]


China has cracked down on VPN use as a workaround for its state censorship and surveillance. Gotta believe that’s coming to the west soon too.

Do VPNs still work in China? (as of March 2019)
posted by criticalbill at 5:13 AM on March 19, 2019


Porn filters, when they miss something, tend to miss stuff around the margins. When I was a kid figuring out what the filter my parents had would and won't block, I found that it was pretty good at keeping me from regular naked people, but bad at more niche content. The niche content was not an improvement in this regard.

Hmm, this is where I want to pause and ask what we talk about when we talk about porn? Because my mind doesn't immediately go to happy liberated naked people (which I don't mind) . It goes to black women getting pummeled by gentalia accompanied by pretty gross captions. I guess, in the world of porn my existence is pretty niche, so I hit the less pleasant stuff almost immediately.

Anyway, this is not a hill I need to die on. I'm glad many people have had healthy liberating experiences with porn. I just wanted to offer a point of view to show that not every person uncomfortable with wide access to for young people is a prude, or a conservative.
posted by CatastropheWaitress at 8:47 AM on March 19, 2019 [1 favorite]


That's fair - to be a little more specific about my experience as a young teen, what the filter missed was some pretty intense BDSM content that included nudity but nothing resembling sex. It wasn't an improvement along anti-oppression lines, and it definitely was something I was not at all equipped to understand at that age. But I sought it out anyway, because it was what I could get.
posted by vibratory manner of working at 10:02 PM on March 20, 2019


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