ATVOD
have announced a determination that all internet hardcore must be locked
behind paywalls, that in practice can only be unlocked by credit cards, even
debit cards won't do. I wonder percentage of customers are banned from
watching porn because they haven't got a credit card or else would rather
not use it).
And as far seriously impairing under 18's, I guess they will
all have been seriously impaired already. And will continue to
be seriously impaired to the benefit of foreign websites. The
'experts' are hardly convinced that the depiction of anything so
natural to every person's life can be considered seriously
impairing anyway. And the government seems to have asked ATVOD/Ofcom
to bluff it out until more specific legislation can be drawn up.
(See
morally impaired plot).
And do any of these censors ever consider the serious
impairment to our children caused by poverty. They seem so keen
to add the mass of expensive state control freakery and yet it
is suffocating Britain's ability to earn any money.
Anyway ATVOD have release the news article:
ATVOD Rules That Adult Website Must Block
Access To Children
ATVOD publishes determination that adult video on demand
website Bootybox.tv had breached statutory rules
requiring video on demand providers to ensure that under 18s
cannot normally access hardcore pornographic content
The Authority for Television On Demand (ATVOD)
has today published its determination that the provider of the
online video on demand service Bootybox.tv was in breach
of a statutory rule which requires that material which might
seriously impair under 18s can only be made available if access
is blocked to children.
The Bootybox.tv website offered users access
to explicit hardcore porn videos which could be viewed
on-demand. The content of the videos was equivalent to that
which could only be sold in licensed sex shops if supplied on
DVD.
Responding to a complaint from a concerned
father, who had discovered that his son had visited the site,
ATVOD found that the website broke the statutory rules in two
ways. Firstly, it allowed any visitor to the website
unrestricted access to a selection of hardcore pornographic
video promos/trailers featuring real sex in explicit detail and
featured a large still image of explicit sex on the homepage.
Secondly, access to the full videos was open to any visitor who
paid a fee. As the service accepted payment methods -- such as
debit cards and prepaid vouchers -- which can be used by under
18s, ATVOD ruled that the service had also failed to put in
place effective access controls in relation to the full videos.
ATVOD followed up its ruling with an
Enforcement Notification, requiring the provider of Bootybox.tv
to either remove the hardcore porn content from the service or
put it all behind effective access controls which will ensure
that only adults can see it. The service has now ceased
operating.
Speaking today at a conference at the House
of Lords on ATVOD's role in child and consumer protection, ATVOD
Chief Executive Pete Johnson will say:
UK providers of hardcore pornography on
demand must take effective steps to ensure that such material is
not accessible to under 18s. Asking visitors to a website to
click an 'I am 18' button or enter a date of birth or use a
debit card is not sufficient -- if they are going to offer
explicit sex material they must know that their customers are
18, just as they would in the 'offline' world.
Last week, ATVOD followed up its ruling with
a seminar for providers of adult content on video on demand
services. The seminar was designed to ensure that such providers
fully understood their obligations under the statutory rules and
to make clear that ATVOD would take action in relation to any
other providers found to be in breach of the rule.
Vivid
Entertainment, one of the world's major adult film studios, has said that it
will launch Vivid for Google TV, the first TV app designed to make sexually
explicit content available through the new Google TV set top device. The new
channel will stream content in high definition to subscriber television sets
and computer screens.
