The UK is proposing new age verification guidelines to protect children from accessing online pornography, including the suggestion of using artificial intelligence technology to determine if a viewer appears to be legally underage.
Age Verification via AI
The new Online Safety Bill passed by the UK government requires websites and apps that host or display pornographic content to ensure that children cannot be exposed to such materials on their services. The legal age for viewing pornography in the UK is 18 years or older.
The Impact of Pornography on Children
According to a study conducted by the Office of the Children’s Commissioner for England between 2021 and 2022, the average child first sees pornography online at age 13, while nearly a quarter encounter it before the age of 11, and one in ten children at age 9.
Proposed Age Verification Guidelines
The guidelines proposed by the UK’s communications regulator (Ofcom) include estimating a person’s age using facial recognition analysis powered by artificial intelligence. This will likely require taking a selfie on the device and uploading it.
The regulator added that the proposed guidelines also include matching a person’s identity using a form of ID such as a passport or driving license to verify their age, in addition to credit card checks.
Other suggestions include using open banking services, where users could consent to share their banking information with online pornography sites to confirm they are over 18 years old.
Potential Concerns
The Institute of Economic Affairs, a free market think tank, stated that mandatory age verification threatens user privacy and exposes them to breaches and abuse by increasing the amount of sensitive data retained by third parties.
Expected Final Guidelines
Ofcom expects to publish the final guidelines by early 2025.
Source: Reuters
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