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Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
Enforcing age verification checks for online porn sites could be detrimental to smaller ISPs and significantly increase online fraud, the government has admitted.
The measures, which are due to come into force in May, will require UK residents to prove they are 18 or over in order to get access to porn sites.
[...] And the one for age verification (PDF) – slipped out over the Christmas break – is a doozy, reeling off a list covering concerns about privacy, online fraud and reputational damage to the government.
The document also set out the costs of the new measures, which includes a cost to the public purse of between £1m and £7.9m for the creation of the regulator.
Meanwhile, the estimated cost to large ISPs of blocking sites – on the assumption that this would be for between 1 and 50 sites a year on a DNS level – is in the range of £100,000 to £500,000, which they said would cover a system update to include the BBFC's chosen porn sites.
These providers told government it was likely they would be able to absorb ongoing operational costs, probably because many already have blocking systems.
But this isn't true for all providers, as Neil Brown, tech lawyer at decoded:Legal, pointed out: "If every ISP needs to block non-compliant sites, that will impact smaller ISPs, especially if they don't already have a blocking system in place."
The government acknowledges this risk in the impact assessment, saying that the requirement "could have a negative impact on smaller ISPs with a much smaller workforce and we will need to carefully consider the impact on them".
[...] The security measures of the age verification providers has also been questioned – especially as the frontrunner at the moment, AgeID, is produced by mega-porn-corp MindGeek, whose companies don't have a great reputation for security.
"It would be ironic if a mass exposure of people's porn proclivities... is what teaches the public about the importance of online privacy and security," said Jackman.
Faced with all of this, perhaps it's not surprising that the government also lists as a potential risk that people simply stop using online porn at all.
But, hey, perhaps that's what the government wants...®
(Score: 3, Funny) by WizardFusion on Wednesday January 10 2018, @01:34PM (8 children)
So using OpenDNS, Quad9, Google, or any one of over 10 other public DNS services will make all this irreverent.?!
https://www.lifewire.com/free-and-public-dns-servers-2626062 [lifewire.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 10 2018, @01:45PM (1 child)
Shhh - don't let them know about the hosts file.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 10 2018, @04:21PM
They can have my host files after they pry them from their cold, dead, hands. Host files are so damn useful, we are using them to coutner the demise of gamespy network in old games so we can continue have multiplayer!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 10 2018, @04:19PM (5 children)
That there is a workaround is not an issue. It will only be an issue if people use the workaround.
People are dumb and lazy as a group, so they are unlikely to do so unless sufficiently motivated (like by a hard-on).
If workaround is used by a decent percentage, there will be more shortsighted legislation, where the computing providers instead of DNS will have to ensure the content is being age-checked (or whatever they call it). Yes I guarantee you that some dumb shit like that would happen, even though it would make zero sense and would be impossible for most companies to enforce/implement. Because if people are dumb and lazy as a group, politicians... well... I just don't have the energy to describe their short-comings.
Also the way laws are enacted in UK reminds me of a high school debate team mixed with drama club. A total shit-show all around.
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Wednesday January 10 2018, @05:11PM (4 children)
Meanwhile, in the US we've replaced the high school debate team with the cheerleading squad. Sometimes literally - George W Bush, Ronald Reagan, Dwight Eisenhower, and Franklin Roosevelt were all cheerleaders prior to becoming president.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Wednesday January 10 2018, @09:30PM (3 children)
What about Oprah?
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Wednesday January 10 2018, @09:50PM (2 children)
What about Oprah? Despite some idiots in the press listing her as a prospective presidential candidate, she's not a politician unless she decides to run for something.
And this is just one guy's opinion, but I thought we would have learned by now that having somebody with zero experience in government in charge of government does not yield good results. It's sort of like what happens if you hire a CEO who knows absolutely nothing about the product they're selling.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Wednesday January 10 2018, @10:08PM
Well, no one in the UK government seems to understand the internet, so maybe all that matters is cheerleading or golfing skill!
Perversely, the Australian Prime Minister helped create an ISP, yet seems to also want to ban encryption...and have no idea how mathematics works...
http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/how-malcolm-turnbull-made-his-fortune-in-the-heady-dotcom-boom-days-20110505-1e9kr.html [smh.com.au]
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2017/07/14/malcolm-turnbull-says-laws-australia-trump-laws-mathematics/ [telegraph.co.uk]
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday January 10 2018, @10:21PM
But... that's sorta the whole point, why do you think they are doing it?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford