The Conservatives say they will force hardcore pornography websites to put in place age-restriction controls or face being shut down if they win the election. The culture secretary, Sajid Javid, said the party would act to ensure under-18s were locked out of adult content after a recent Childline poll found nearly one in 10 12-13 year olds were worried they were addicted and 18% had seen shocking or upsetting images. Experts welcomed the move – targeted at both UK-based and overseas websites – but warned it would take hard work to implement in practice. Under the Tory proposals the system would be overseen by an independent regulator with the power to compel internet service providers (ISPs) to block sites which failed to include effective age verification. ISPs could be fined if they did not co-operate. Javid said: “If you want to buy a hardcore pornography DVD in a store you need to prove your age to the retailers. “With the shift to online, children can access adult content on websites without restriction, intentionally or otherwise. “As a father to four young children, I worry, like every other parent, how easy it is for them to view explicit material. “That is why we need effective controls online that apply to UK and overseas. “This is about giving children the best start in life; we do not want to prevent adults from accessing legal content but we do want to protect our children from harmful material, so they are free to develop a healthy attitude to sex and relationships.” The Mothers’ Union chief executive, Reg Bailey, who was commissioned by David Cameron to investigate the the commercialisation and sexualisation of childhood, said it was “a really welcome development”. He said: “A key recommendation of the Letting Children Be Children review ... was to help parents protect children from inappropriate content on the internet, especially pornography. “Although huge progress has been made, this is a real step forward. “Whilst I do not underestimate the energy that will be needed to implement this effectively, I am greatly encouraged by the prime minister’s continuing personal commitment to this task.” Sarah Green, acting director of the End Violence Against Women Coalition, said: “We warmly welcome proposals to better regulate access to online pornography by young people. “Surveys have shown that more than half of young people have seen online pornography by the age of 14, and that many see it without even seeking it out as links are shared on social networks. “Research has found that young people’s exposure to pornography is linked to beliefs that women are sex objects, and to negative and even fearful attitudes towards sex.” NSPCC chief Peter Wanless said: “The easy availability to children of online pornography, much of it extreme, violent and profoundly degrading, is of deepening concern. “It can leave them feeling frightened, confused, depressed or upset. The number of ChildLine counselling sessions regarding porn more than doubled last year to over 1,100 with some young girls revealing they were being pressured to mimic scenes from adult films. “Any action that makes it more difficult for young people to find this material is to be welcomed. The key will be making any system work effectively as we know foreign outlets are recklessly flooding the market with films that can be viewed by anyone without any age checks in place.” ************************************ So that's it then. The Tories are trying to 'protect the children' (or make sure they're not aware what sex is so they can fiddle them), but at the same time are going to introduce ****ed up ID checks for porn sites or even block them via laws for ISPs. The internet is being ruined by idiots who've turned up late for the party and have no ****ing clue. As a bunch of ****ers I'd thought they'd want to keep porn as easily accessible as possible, but no, let's make everyone enter their credit card details into dodgy porn sites This might even make Mick think twice before voting for them...
Adults with kids in the house should password protect and filter all internet access ... if they dont then they should be fined. This is a bandwagon jumping policy from the tories.
It's going to get worse every ****ing year, until the internet is basically just an online shop with a few news articles, lots of adverts and streaming sites like netflix. There are ****loads of web filters available for free, just force the parents to do it.
Exactly If your kid ,under the age of 16, ****s up its the parents responsibility. Punish the kid but also punish the parents. Too much "its someone elses fault" attitudes in the uk.
Ah, the good old blame the Internet bullshit. Don't bother getting parents taking responsibility for what their kids do online. Fine ISP's For what? Being unable to monitor the entire Internet? Naw, let's protect the children by brutalising people's right to privacy.
Ill need ti revert to slipping a copy of razzle under my herald n asking abdul if he has the free dvd.
There was also the crushing guilt when yer porn stash mysteriously disappeared from under yer mattress. Ye couldny look yer mam in the eye
The lenghths you went to hid yer porn stash... if only you n yer mates put in the same energy into school work...
Looking back ye thought ye were really sneaky about it but now realise yer ma and da knew eveything ye were up to during yer seven 'baths/showers' a day
Even worse if you cunningly hid them on top of the front porch outside the bathroom window, only for the wind to blow them down the street just as your mum was coming home from work.
Your average porn video is not gong to do an under 16 to much harm IMO, I think the Tories are over reacting here. I used to look at magazines when I was 14-15 and it didn't do me any harm. As far as I see, it is normal for a young teenager to want to look at porn.
