#age-verification

#age-verification

asking people for IDs or face scans to prove they are over 18 or 21 or even 13. To proponents, they're a tool to keep children away from adult websites and other material that might be harmful to them. But opponents see a worrisome trend toward a less secure, less private and less free internet, where people can be denied access not just to pornography but news, health information and the ability to speak openly and anonymously.

Age verification laws now enacted in South Dakota and Wyoming require any website hosting sexual content to implement measures, affecting many non-pornographic sites.

Between July 24 and August 8, Pornhub experienced a 47 percent reduction in UK traffic, translating to a loss of over a million visitors due to new age verification rules.

Ofcom is investigating four companies operating 34 porn sites for compliance with new age check requirements to prevent minors from accessing harmful content.

The digital ID systems currently being introduced potentially solve problems like identity fraud for business and government services, but leave the holder of the digital ID vulnerable to the needs of the companies collecting such information.

The media regulator's age verification crackdown today is having little effect as social media and adult sites still only require self-declaration of age to create adult accounts.