Is this the end of pornhub and only fans

[janmarmay83]

So from July 2025 people will have to show robust proof of age.

Surely not many people will be happy to scan passport/ driving license info these sites

While I would love that I don’t think it will be a death knell, no. Pornography has become so normalised this will deter relative few viewers who would pay for content.

It will deter more casual viewers initially, but there is so much money in porn that they will develop an ID system that is easily transferable so that once someone has signed up for one age verification site they can enter the others too. And probably make it something that is useful for anything that requires age verification - porn, gambling, alcohol, maybe even knives and other more mundane items.

I do think it will have a significant impact on underage viewers, though. And that will possibly have a long term impact on lowering use.

Interesting read

As somebody who is very against censorship for adults, I think this may well end up being something very good that ends up very bad.

A great many laws start well but have very different mid-longterm consequences. If they succeed with this method protecting children from porn - and that would be truly wonderful - I think they will move on to other harmful content - and how harmful content is defined could be very open to debate.

Porn, pro-ana sites, self-harm sites, extremism, gambling, drugs, alcohol (including mainstream sports sponsored by alcohol companies), junk food (obesity crisis), gaming (addictive, sedentary and a waste of time that could be spent more constructively), racism, transphobia, far-right opinions, far-left opinions, religion, atheism, anything that anybody else finds offensive, hurtful or disagreeable - including much robust discussion on MN...

Great though this sounds, once it's the norm, there's absolutely no easily-justfiable consensus for ever stopping the range and reach of all kinds of material that some people might find problematic.

Social credit is already a big thing in China - with serious consequences for those who don't do 'the right thing'. Yes, it might be 'just' giving your name and proving your age, but what could happen to your data and what list could you end up on?

Just waiting now for somebody to come on and call me paranoid and ridiculous - somebody who maybe needs to study a bit more history!

Reddit is about to become even more popular.

Two sites aren't going to make a dent. Others will pop up in their place.

Charging parents for their children accessing over 18 sites might have an impact.

There are always ways around things.

They tried to ban people from using torrent sites. All you have to do is use a VPN and you're good to go.

Nothing is going to stop people watching porn I'm afraid.

The general consensus outside MN (such a world does exist) is that what bill payers should be able to view - or not view - should be much more up to the bill payer than the government. Who we all know will start to stretch definitions once the principle is established.

Also, the UK should have learned by now how the internet works.

As El Reg commentators noted, this really seems (yet another) push to get us all to sign up to ID cards.

Only IP addresses from the UK will require proof of age. Use a vpn to set a foreign location it won't ask you for proof of age

I believe sites based in the UK will have to ask for ID regardless of where the traffic originates.

Are there any based in the UK? It's not a particularly popular location for online businesses already for various reasons.

(If there are then I'm guessing they'll locate their servers elsewhere.)

Sites can move country very easily, and they will do and be less regulated.

There are plenty of "free" vpns out here kids can download which are riddled with spyware and viruses (I had to clean DSs PC because of this). So one risk will be replaced by another

I agree with everything you said @DalzielOrNoDalzielAndDontPascoe

Not sure if anyone mentioned it already but didn't they plan this a few years ago and cancel it because of Covid? They had planned to sell age verification cards at post offices. Basically you showed them your ID and you could get a card so it wasn't linked to your personal details. I'm sure I remember joking with friends about going to the post office to get porn passes.

Can you imagine someone going into the Post Office for that? If they have a Post Office and it was not closed down because of the persecution of the sub-postmaster.

If anyone had any hopes this was a halfway serious idea (it wasn't, it really wasn't) then a brief look at the horses mouth

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/siteassets/resources/documents/consultations/category-1-10-weeks/statement-age-assurance-and-childrens-access/part-3-guidance-on-highly-effective-age-assurance.pdf

Will show that for the purposes of age verification, having the right email address will be enough.

No, it won't stop adults from accessing porn without ID checks, but it's not meant to stop them! It's meant to stop eleven-year-olds who have innocently searched for the word "sex" from being instantly exposed to stuff more hardcore than their parents have ever seen.

Yes, determined teenagers will figure out VPNs and get round it fairly easily. More needs to be done in the future. But this is a step in the right direction to protect the youngest children, who currently have no protection at all.

Anyone who thinks it will "drive porn underground" and somehow make it worse is deluded about what kind of stuff is easily available as mainstream content right now. There is no oversight currently. These companies clearly do not care that children can access it and will only care when governments force them to care. It is not better for children to be watching pornhub than it is for them to be on "the dark web" or Reddit. Children should be free from all of this. Obviously there is no safe way for children to watch porn.

Of course these companies are trying to argue that they shouldn't need to have functioning age checks in place - it's like when cigarette companies used to claim smoking was good for you! We need to have some critical thinking here.

I don’t approve of porn for anybody but I don’t care a huge amount about men finding ways to view. What I DO care about is young boys, pre-pubescent, seeing porn before they even have any defences or wats of understanding what they’re seeing. The more barriers the better as far as I’m concerned…. My 11 year old definitely cannot access the dark web or use a vpn so he’d be safe for a while longer.

I think this is a great thinking point on how utterly absurd societies reliance, acceptance and entitlement to pornography is. It isn't a human need at all. Yet such importance is placed on having access to it that you would have queues of people (statistically mostly men) lining up for their pass. Some men won't go into a shop to get a birthday card for their child or wife but would be lining up for their "right" to free easy sexual gratification. Its very sad.

The first time I learned to use a proxy server was during IT in year 7 of secondary school. Everyone was using them to get around the websites blocked by IT.

At the time, it wasn't long after 9/11, and the 11 year old kids in my class weren't using proxy servers to access porn but a beheading video. It was horrific. I didn't seek out anything like that, but I remember seeing it on the screen of the person who was sat in front of me.

It's a step in the right direction imo.

If people (or anyone in charge) cared about children accessing porn they would put an age limit on smart phones.

Someone will know how to get around restrictions. Porn has been around a long time. Only Fans will keep giving.

Porn is disgusting. I have an adult son in his 20s who absolutely hates himself for getting addicted to it in his early teens. He wish he never started. He overcame it years ago, but feel deep shame.

It won't be the end of either @janmarmay83.

Hopefully it will be the end of children accessing their content.

????

I mean that's the job of parents.

It is not better for children to be watching pornhub than it is for them to be on "the dark web"

To be fair I don't think there are any studies of the pros and cons but I've used both and I would disagree with this. From a safeguarding point of view TOR and darkweb "onion" sites tend to be very much worse. I think maybe you haven't looked.