The federal government has given an online age verification pilot the green light. Here's what we know about it
The federal government has given an online age verification pilot the green light. Here's what we know about it
The government is pursuing age verification for online porn. It's going to be complicated. Everyone agrees kids shouldn't be able to access porn online. Stopping them is much harder than you might think.
I saw that they weren't going to go ahead last year, but now apparently there will be a pilot.
Responding to eSafety's roadmap last year, the government set a few tests that any age verification scheme would have to meet. They included confidence it can't be circumvented, can be easily applied to companies based abroad, and don't risk the privacy of adults looking to legally access porn.
This is going absolutely nowhere then. All three of those bullet points are impossible problems on their own. What a waste of money.
Australia, the testing ground for bad privacy invading policy for the five (/thirteen/whatever we're up to now) eyes. Also run by technical morons (“The laws of mathematics are very commendable, but the only law that applies in Australia is the law of Australia”). ASSAct etc.
They don't care if it never works because the true goal is to convert public funds into private profits.
Are they putting any extra money into sex education or are we still pretending access to hardcore pornography is the only issue?
It seems they've scapegoated one thing to look busy on dealing with high rates of DV. I'd love to see more resources given to housing* and family violence services, better sex ed around consent, and for police to consistently act on reports rather than brushing them off.
*There are calls to address housing for those escaping their relationships but whether that materialises is another matter. And there is a Leaving Violence grant, however it depends on being able to get into stable housing rather than just end up crashing in a hotel or transitional housing for as long as the money lasts.
“We are collecting and selling your data, you know, for the kids”
Data integrity checks with industry leading third party partners.
Well this is just impossible. The UK tried to do this and failed. Plus I'm not sure how this is going to reduce DV? Is there a problem of kids strangling their partners during sex? Isn't there a better way to educate them?
Anecdotally there are issues with random non consensual choking etc. But I agree they're drawing a long bow and this isn't going to be as effective or feasible as claimed. Implementing this would only cause unintentional (or intentional) consequences.
Even if it did magically work for the stated purpose (which it won't) it's focusing far in the future when there's a serious crisis right now.
Great. More taxpayer money going towards complete and utter stupidity. Anyone with even the most basic knowledge of the Internet knows how dumb and technologically unfeasible this is, yet this nonsense still continues to gain traction.
Three in four children accessed porn before they were 18 before there was internet porn. Hell, I'd bet that three in four boomers were sexually active before they were 18 too.
The optimist in me says they're doing the feasibility study while knowing nothing workable will result, so it can be shelved with little fuss.