Posted by: Pseudo 4 June 2015
The UK stance on porn could become very strict with the announcement of a new scheme to reduce under-age viewing.
This week in UK news, the British Government is seeking to introduce yet more heavy-handed laws. At present, your access to porn has always been a simple affair. You go to your favourite website, pass a simple “are you 18?” age-gate and you’re in. In fact, even our own Lewd Gamer has such an age-gate. This has been quite commonplace for some time now, and while it never really kept anybody out, it did meet regulations for viewing pornographic material. Not so for some. The Tory party of the UK, recently voted in by a slim majority, is seeking to go forward with its pledge to curb online porn use by under-18s and make the most of its time in office.
The Culture Secretary, Sajid Javid, promised that the party would seek to ensure that anyone who did not meet the age requirement would be locked out by force. The implementation of this new law would see age verification get physical, and not in the fun way we all know and love. Dr. Rachel O’Connell, an advisor to the DPA, has suggested that in order to pass the new age gate people will have to go to the post office. You read that correctly. O’Connell suggests that users could choose an authority (the post office, your bank, etc.) to verify their ID, which would then be transmitted through an anonymizing service to “protect identities”. Only then will you be allowed to view the site in question. The real question is; who would you rather know you want to visit bigbustybitches.com – your postman or your branch manager? But you see there’s still a problem. When this block is removed it will be removed from your connection. It won’t be removed for you personally – it’s removed for your property. The day hasn’t come yet where we each are individually identified by microchips in our hands when we connect. You remove the block for your home, and we’re right back where we began where your kids can view what they want.
Regardless, the move comes as “60% of people are first exposed to pornography aged 14 years or younger” (BBC/ICM Poll, 2014) and that “28% of young people aged 11-18 think porn definitely influences how young people behave in a relationship” (NSPCC, 2013). This is contrasted by investigations brought into light by Eric Owens of Pennsylvania University. Mr. Owens, who published a paper regarding “40 to 50 studies”, came to the conclusion that there was no real conclusion at all. The move has been influenced by the concerned “End Violence Against Women Coalition”, whose manifesto details that blocking porn for Britain’s youth is the only way of “ensuring the safety of women and girls”. This, of course, contrasts the general consensus that porn is a consensual act between adults. When you see a submissive being degraded, they like it. I should know. You don’t need to ban every sex act under the sun to make the world safe for anyone. In fact, the majority of those sex acts mentioned only affect women’s pleasure. Not to mention that these laws don’t actually concern “violence” against men depicted in UK produced porn. Ball busters you’re just fine for now!
We reached out to some of the UK’s producers for comment on the current situation, hoping to get some insight behind the scenes, and how these laws can impact business. I spoke with one of the largest producers in the UK, who wished to remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of the subject matter. I posed a series of questions to my source, and some of the answers were quite indicative of an industry under fire. My first question was in regard to the banning of sexual acts being depicted on film. “This hasn’t really affected us at all” he said, “We work closely with the BBFC regulators and keep to their somewhat gray-area guidelines.“ This is not to say that the laws don’t have deeper impact for the future within the company however, as he states “It’s quite a ridiculous enterprise to even enter into as we all know the internet is a non-geographical arena so UK law is easily bypassed even if it’s enforceable in any way.” Critics have certainly argued these measures would not see success, much in the same way the ban on The Pirate Bay did not change traffic, or have any significant desired effect on piracy. “It’s such an opinion based law which will ultimately be targeting consensual acts on the basis of someone watching it,” said my source. “It’s strange how an act you can do in your bedroom or wherever is not allowed to be shown on film, otherwise you’re breaking an arbitrary law based on outdated cases.”
Regarding the new law forcing users to prove age via an ID system, my source explained. “This would and could only be enforced with a wide-sweeping censorship of the internet.” This is something that of course is not too outside the realms of possibility. Theresa May, the Home Secretary, has outlined her invasive stance on extremism and how this would be implemented on the internet. May, who some say simply wants to ban pleasure, outlined that her aptly dubbed ‘Snooper’s Charter’ would see the government given powers that put to shame even NSA spying. The Draft Communications Bill would effectively attempt to outlaw encryption, force ISPs to hold data on all their clients, and allow the government to read everyone’s texts, messages, emails, etc. This as usual falls under the guise of keeping Britons safe, particularly future generations. “The reasoning for ‘child protection’ is a very clever one for the government to place this under as no opposition MP would in their right mind oppose a law purportedly for child protection,” said our source. He continued, “If only porn wasn’t so embarrassing to these people, perhaps we’d have a stronger more co-operative situation.” This is the real crux of the matter, in that porn is not something you generally discuss over dinner. The side of the producer is rarely represented in these things, and as my source explained to me, “the area is just far too grey to stick our heads up above the parapet just yet,” with regards to remaining anonymous. You can read the full response here when updated, something that is certainly worth doing.
So what’s your opinion on this lewd readers? Is this something that will hamper your ability to enjoy adult material? Will we as LewdGamer be affected by these draconian laws? To be honest, simply sort yourself out with a VPN and act like none of this ever happened. The government’s own ignorance of how the internet works should not impact your ability to use it effectively. If The Pirate Bay can still be accessed easily after the block – a site nowhere near as popular as porn – we’ll all be just fine.
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