Around this time last year, the UK Government rubber-stamped a law that would require anyone accessing ‘adult’ material online to undergo an age verification check. It was, colloquially, referred to as the ‘passport to porn’. There was, however, one small (well, actually, rather huge) problem. Namely, that while the law was issued, nobody really knew exactly how it was going to be implemented. Not even the government who issued it!
Cutting a long story short, after months of dilly-dallying over how this could be done, the law was eventually (and rather quietly) dropped. It seems, however, that the companies who were developing age verification methods are not too happy about the decision.
They’re so unhappy, in fact, that in a report via the BBC, they are currently seeking around £3,000,000 in damages from the UK government.
Age Verification Companies Seek £3m Over Scrapped UK Porn Law
The companies, AgeChecked, VeriMe, AVYourself and AVSecure, have lodged an official Judicial review at the UK high courts over whether the government was legally able to overturn the law. What they’re really after is the mandate to give the government a bill for their time and expenses.
While I feel that the decision to scrap the law was (mostly) correct, I can understand the anger from these companies. It’s like being asked to bake a wedding cake only to have the order canceled the day before!
What Do We Think?
The system was, of course, doomed to failure from the start. Firstly, even now, there wasn’t any firm information on how the verification would be made. Secondly, under the presumption that the details would be stored online, there were clear security worries. Thirdly, people (quite frankly) didn’t like the idea of the government potentially knowing what their ‘kinks’ were.
The trump issue, however, was the fact that, by and large, it wouldn’t have been too difficult to bypass. There are, after all, plenty of free (and surprisingly good) VPN applications out there.
So, maybe the government should pay them the money. Simply on the basis of them making such a ridiculous ‘porn’ law in the first place!
What do you think? Was it right to scrap the law? Do you think the companies should be compensated? – Let us know in the comments!
