14 DAY TRIAL // The United Kingdom has already imposed some rules censoring the Internet automatically and forcing anyone who wants access to adult content and other type of sites that aren’t necessarily dedicated to kids and teenagers to expressly opt in for this with their ISPs.
Now, a new set of rules may be on the way, forcing all websites that contain adult material or selling guns to verify whether a person is over 18 years of age, the Sunday Times reports.
It’s not just the blank “type in your birthday” field, either, like the ones we all cheated on back in the day, but much more complicated stuff. In fact, the UK wants to have people use bank-approved software and credit cards to prove their age, since these can only be issued to individuals 18 and over.
Similar restrictions are applied to gambling sites, so they’re not exactly a new experience for part of the British Internet users.
The legislation is currently being written by the Department of Culture, Media and Sports. It would initially impact British websites, although this doesn’t seem exactly fair for companies within the UK considering the fact that they’d be the only ones to be affected by the move.
The payment systems will be overseen by the Economic Secretary to the Treasury and MP for South Northamptonshire Andrea Leadsom and will use UK-approved companies such as Visa or PayPal.
All for online child safety
“We take the issue of child safety online very seriously and have set out a series of robust measures, including family friendly filters, to help keep children safe online. We are always looking at ways to build on these measures to make children even safer,” a source from the Department of Culture, Media and Sports told The Independent.
This means that the new plans are, indeed, part of the greater government effort to protect children from online content that might not be addressed to them.
There’s a concern for privacy, however, since verifying someone’s credit card is pretty much equal to knowing who they are. The fact that the government will know they want to gamble online, watch adult movies or check out weapons takes away from the idea that the Internet should be free for everyone to use without restrictions while being allowed their privacy while doing so.
While it’s unclear if there’s going to be any data base put together based on info via this method, it wouldn’t exactly be a colossal feat.