France creates porn passport to keep children off adult websites
FRANCE will become the first country to introduce a “digital certificate” for anyone seeking online pornography to prove they are not underage, the government said yesterday.
People wanting to visit pornography websites will have to install a government application on their mobile phones proving that they are at least 18 as part of the plan announced by Jeannoël Barrot, France’s digital minister.
Websites that do not comply with the order risk being banned in France.
The certification process will remain anonymous and be enforced by September this year, the French government said.
The announcement came amid a debate in Britain over the Online Safety Bill and days after rebel Tory MPS demanded tougher age security checks.
While children are banned from accessing porn in France, current laws only oblige people to click on a button indicating they are over 18, with no other checks on whether they are adults. The lack of other oversight is a factor behind children accessing online porn for the first time at an average age of 11, according to French studies.
“I mean to end this scandal. I intend to have this law respected once and for all,” Mr Barrot told Le Parisien. “[Porn sites] will have to comply with it or risk seeing distribution prohibited nationwide,” he added. “[This year] will see the end of access to pornographic sites for our children!”
The new age verification system, he said, “will work a bit like the verification requested by your bank when you make an online purchase”
According to Le Parisien, telecoms operators may be asked to validate that a user is an adult, apparently by sending a verification to a mobile device whose number is linked to an individual.
“France will become the first country in the world to offer a solution like this,” he said. Leading websites Youporn, Pornhub and Redtube have so far declined to comment.
While France may become the first country to introduce such a policy nationwide, web users in the American state of Louisiana have had to upload digital ID proving they are 18 or older to access a site that contains at least 33 per cent adult content since Jan 1.
In the UK, the long-running parliamentary process on the Online Security Bill led to 43 Tory MPS writing to Michelle Donelan, the Culture Secretary, demanding amendments that would introduce strict age checks on social media and pornography sites within six months.
Any firms that fail to introduce age verification, using identity documents, such as passports or driving licences, would face fines worth up to 10 per cent of their global turnover and could have their services blocked in the UK.