It’s been a long time since porn has been banned in India. But it just gave Indians the chance to learn how to use VPN services and bypass the porn ban. Now the UK is going to ban porn too and the sad news is bypassing it won’t be as easy as in India. In a gist, here’s everything we know about the UK’s porn ban.
UK Porn Ban – Reasons
The porn ban is actually not for every person, but age-restricted. From July 15th onwards, viewers need to be 18 or older. The UK Government thinks that it is too easy for children to watch porn and it affects their mental state in a bad way. Critics are expecting that banning adult websites won’t have that much impact. It’s just that, the UK government is trying to enforce but the government held strong on their beliefs.
The law is to enforce a robust age verification system while accessing any porn websites or the government will completely block it if they don’t verify their age, meaning even if someone is older than 18, they cannot access such adult websites.
Now there’s another question comes up how the age verification system will work. If the government will provide a solution or the site owners need to find a way and the way it looks the second option is more likely to happen. So, how is it going to work out?
How to Access Porn after the UK Ban?
Various solutions have surfaced but the one taken seriously is the Portes Card, also known as Porn Pass. The way it is going to be is any person can go to a physical shop and ask for the card. The shopkeeper will verify the age, by checking identity cards and give the customer Portes Card. Then through an application, the card can be uploaded to prove their age and then he will be granted to browse the adult websites. This way their identity is only shared with the shopkeeper, not on the internet.
The Portes Card won’t be a hard card like credit cards, but something like a printed voucher. Portes has also partnered with two of the major payment companies, PayPal and ePay which collectively installed in 90,000 retailers. For a single device usage, the pass will cost £4.99 ($6.50), and fore multiple devices £8.99 ($11.80). On the other hand, parents will be able to install the same app on their children’s phone to lock it, then if minor get their hand on any code to bypass the restriction and try to use it, the code won’t work.
The ban was supposed to happen last year in April, but now it is going to be enforced from 15th July this year.
