The UK's regulator for television on-demand, ATVOD, says it is trying to get industry support to block the flow of money to some pornographic websites in the United States, including sites like PornHub.
Websites that offer hardcore pornographic content freely, without proper age-verification, are in violation of the Obscene Publications Act, says ATVOD, and are therefore operating illegally. "The free stuff is the shop window," says Peter Johnson, ATVOD Chief Executive, referring to PornHub's free content in relation to PornHub's Premium content. "If you're offering [hardcore pornography] in your shop window, you're breaking UK law. Even if you're not in the UK, you're breaking UK law because our children can access it. "Therefore your shop is trading illegally. Therefore funds should not be flowing from the UK to your shop, because your shop is fundamentally operating in an unlawful capacity."
A possible mechanism for blocking payments could be the creation of an independently managed blacklist of non-UK companies that were judged to be operating unlawfully.
Although it seems counter-intuitive for porn sites in the US to be subject to UK law, a 2000 appeals court decision ruled that "the content of American websites could come under British jurisdiction when downloaded in the United Kingdom". Therefore, when content held on US servers is viewed in the UK, that content becomes subject to UK law.
At a Westminster eForum on 14 June, Johnson said that ATVOD was in discussions with the UK Cards Association about blocking payments to non-UK websites that may be in violation of the Obscene Publications Act.
At the same meeting, David Cameron's special advisor on preventing the sexualisation and commercialisation of childhood, Claire Perry, said that by 2014 ISPs in the UK would provide parental internet filters as standard. Labour's Shadow Health Minister Diane Abbott also warned of a free speech and fourth amendment rights "lobby" in the US, saying "given that [US] brought you the right to bear arms, I think you can put US fourth amendment rights, and their preoccupation with them, perhaps a little bit to one side."
Sites like PornHub, which Johnson mentioned as a target, offer some hardcore pornographic content outside of their restricted sections, without rigorous age-verification barriers. Rigorous age-verification barriers mean either credit card, not debit card, verification, or passport/driving license checks. With the increase in freely available, aggregated, and user-generated pornography online, many websites could fall foul of ATVOD.
Serious action against sites operating in the UK, which were deemed to have not properly secured such content, has been taken in the past. In 2011, Playboy UK was fined £100,000 by Ofcom, ATVOD's co-regulator. "Ofcom concluded that Playboy's failure to protect children from potentially accessing these sites was serious, repeated and reckless," the regulator wrote in 2011.
ATVOD's rules state that "material which might seriously impair the physical, mental or moral development of under 18s, must be provided in a manner that secures that under 18 cannot normally view it," said Johnson. "[ATVOD] takes the view that hardcore pornography, might, impair the moral development of under 18s". "It's an early stage, but we're working with the UK Cards Association and major companies who are involved in processing payments from UK bank accounts to online services," says Johnson.
He declined to name any of the companies ATVOD has been speaking with.
The UK Cards Association is a trades group that counts American Express, Barclays, Capital One and WorldPay as members. "Representatives of the UK Cards Association have met officers of ATVOD, with a view to supporting their work to restrict adult images online to children using the internet," confirmed a UK Cards Association spokesperson. "We have agreed to play a role in linking up ATVOD with other organisations concerned with the operation of card payments." The spokesperson added that the onus was on retailers of adult images to ensure that their customers are of legal age. "So far we've had bilateral meetings," said Johnson. "We're getting more and more support for everyone to sit down together to discuss matters of common interest".
A spokesperson for WorldPay said that they were unaware of any meetings with ATVOD, saying, "as a responsible global payment services provider, WorldPay looks to act with integrity and in compliance with relevant laws."
A spokesperson for Barclays declined to comment, but noted that payment providers had in the past blocked payments to porn and gambling companies that operated illegally, and to companies acting in certain jurisdictions.
American Express, Capital One and PornHub have been contacted for comment.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
