I came across a very interesting statement from the Association of Sites Advocating Child Protection (ASACP) on their web site which points out the extent to which the new legislation is an over-kill and misguided:
LOS ANGELES (April 25, 2014) — After careful study separating the facts from the rhetoric, the Association of Sites Advocating Child Protection (ASACP) wishes to clarify its stance on ATVOD’s push to mandate age verification systems for adult oriented websites.
ATVOD, the U.K.’s Authority on Television and Video On Demand, is petitioning the British government, seeking the imposition of technical measures to prevent minors from accessing age inappropriate content online. ATVOD is pursuing initiatives that restrict payment processing options for adult entertainment sites — and is moving to make age verification systems (AVS) the law of the land.
Not content with regulating the domestic U.K. adult entertainment industry, ATVOD seeks to project its control over websites wherever they are hosted, if they are available in the U.K. — which is a move affecting countless website operators, including many of ASACP’s sponsors.
While ATVOD’s efforts may seek to make the Internet safer for children, which is the core goal of ASACP and its mission of keeping children out of and away from age inappropriate content, the association believes that the proposed age verification measures are overbroad, and do not address the most important factor in this equation — the role of the parent.
ATVOD also seeks to block a broad range of material from UK citizens that may go far further than just adult entertainment content. Just as the recent UK parental filters turned out to block content ranging from non-erotic nudity to sex education, so this new bill can be expected to be overly broad in its definition of adult entertainment content.