We often have to identify ourselves by providing our date of birth, for example when we collect a prescription at the chemist’s.
So, I am very surprised at the number of complaints I have received, demanding repeal of the Online Safety Act 2021, because of its recently implemented requirement that verification of age be provided before access to adult content can be had.
I doubt that this deluge of emails has been prompted alone, by the call from the Reform Party that the Act be repealed.
No doubt, the complaint is one of principle, entirely prompted by the infringement of liberty that requires one to give an account of oneself before proceeding with lawful business.
Were it just prompted by a reluctance to provide adult content websites with sufficient bona fides to identify oneself, then surely complainants would have been too embarrassed to bring the matter to my attention (just as, as a schoolboy, I was embarrassed, when I sought to avoid disapproving looks, as I reached for the top shelf at the newsagent’s, for the latest edition of Health and Efficiency).
I voted for the age verification provisions in the Online Safety Act and I believe that they provide important protection for children. The Children’s Commissioner, Dame Rachel de Souza, has expressed her dismay at the quantity and nature of pornography that has been circulating on social media amongst young children. The early sexualisation of children is deeply disturbing.
Of course, no system is fool proof, and those so determined, will find ways of getting around the identity requirement. Nevertheless, the provisions have already led to a very significant reduction in access to adult content and certainly prevent children stumbling across it by accident.
One of the ways that the age verification can be circumvented is through the purchase of virtual private network (VPN) software. There has been an exponential rise in the sale of this software since the identity requirement was implemented on 25th July. VPN provider Proton has revealed a 1,800% increase in demand!
Well, as I said, if people are really determined, they will find a way to get access without having to identify themselves. In any event, I would be very reluctant to restrict access to VPNs because they are essential for exiles and political dissidents, in order to conceal their whereabouts from authoritarian regimes that are determined to silence them.
There are however, legitimate concerns about the Online Safety Act and the chilling effect it can potentially have on freedom of expression, to which I will return.