UN: Child blocks on porn breach adults’ rights
A NEW law that prevents children from accessing pornographic websites breaches the human rights of adults who use them, according to a senior United Nations official.
After a campaign by the Daily Mail, Culture Secretary Karen Bradley is to force porn sites to carry out age checks so only adults can see explicit material, or face fines of up to £250,000.
But the plans have been condemned by David Kaye, the UN’s special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression.
A professor of law at the University of California, he said the measure ‘unduly interferes with rights of freedom of expression and privacy’.
He suggested in a letter to ministers that the Digital Economy Bill – cur- rently going through Parliament – could breach the 1976 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which protects the right to ‘maintain an opinion without interference’.
Mr Kaye, whose views have been dismissed by critics as ‘rubbish’, said the move was disproportionate and there was a lack of safeguards on porn users’ private information. Anyone whose data is stored by such sites could ‘easily be subject to abuse, such as hacking, blackmail and other potential credit card fraud’, he warned.
He wrote: ‘While I am cognisant of the need to protect children against harmful content, I am concerned that the provisions under the Bill are not an effective way for achieving this as they fall short of the standards of international human rights law.
‘The bill contains insufficient procedures without adequate oversight, overly broad definitions and lack of data sharing safeguards that unduly interferes with the rights of freedom of expression and privacy.’
He suggested the age checks would make it easier for the Government to spy on internet users, who should be allowed to ‘communicate secretly without having to be identified’.
Last night Tory MP Claire Perry said: ‘This sort of emotive language really clouds the issue and distracts from an important principle
‘The Bill is quite clear that what is needed is a robust system to ensure under-18s are not permitted to see material online that they would not have access to in the offline world.
‘The analogy they use is like saying stopping children from going to see an 18 film infringes on the rights of adults to go to the cinema – I don’t think it holds much water.’
John Carr, secretary of the Children’s Charities’ Coalition for Internet Safety, said: ‘It’s clear he hasn’t read what is actually being done because everything he says is wrong.
‘Proportionality is in the eye of the beholder but it’s clear there is a benefit to children in these measures. He’s talking rubbish. States are under an obligation to protect children from this kind of harmful material – that’s what the Government is doing.’
Mr Kaye is the latest in a string of UN officials to have criticised Britain in recent years. In 2013, for example, UN housing rapporteur Raquel Rolnik demanded that the Government’s shake-up of housing benefit be axed.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport said: ‘This Government is proud to be putting in place robust measures to keep children safe from harmful pornographic content on the internet. These measures will ensure children have the same protections online as they do offline.
‘There is no question of the Government collecting data on viewing habits and we are in discussions with the Information Commissioner’s Office to make sure data protection standards are complied with.’
‘He’s talking rubbish’