This is a role that only ISPs can play and must become a core part of the UK’s online safety strategy. Before the Act, online platforms had not been held fully accountable for user safety. The Online Safety Act now gives Ofcom strong powers to enforce standards, drive the use of robust age verification, and require tech companies to take stronger action to protect users. Its core goal is simple; to make the UK the safest place in the world for children to be online, while holding Big Tech to account. While the government argues that viewing pornography is damaging to young people’s moral development, this really sidesteps the need for schools to provide comprehensive, compulsory sex education.
UK – The Online Safety Act 2023 – the landscape two years on
Following their designation as VLOPs on 20 December, the companies have been given four months by the EU to comply with the directive. Failure to do so risks a fine of up to 6 per cent of their global turnover. Kennet Radio broadcasts to Newbury, Thatcham and surrounding areas on 106.7FM, online at kennetradio.com, on the Kennet Radio mobile app and via Alexa (accessed by saying “Alexa, play Kennet Radio”). Issues Online is a full web-based resource enhancing and supplementing mainly the PSHE and RSE curriculum as well as many other subjects. The plans will now be put forward for a public consultation, which will last until April 12, with the public encouraged to offer its feedback.
- Some of their answers you might have expected and some were less expected”.
- Since the HEAA requirements were introduced, there has been a noticeable uptick in the downloads of “virtual private network” (VPN) apps in the UK.
- Alice said there is “something very exciting in the works. If people are sad about today’s news, hopefully they’ll be buoyed by this”, with the trio saying an announcement will be coming after Christmas.
- By investing in this vital education, the government can free future generations from gender-based violence.
- Sites could use secure age verification technology to confirm a user possesses a credit card and is therefore at least 18, or use a third-party service to confirm someone’s age against government data.
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While scammers may be bluffing, it’s a good idea to keep your webcam covered when not in use and to install local antivirus to guard against any snooping software. A total of 24,473 attempts to access the material from devices connected to parliament’s network were made up until October 2017 – totalling around 160 a day on average. Licensed therapists, doctors and experts in addiction and mental health recovery, and people who’ve been there.
- The person I spoke with was very calming and professional, she listened very well and gave me some excellent advice.
- When you choose to create a user account and follow a newsroom your personal data will be used by us and the owner of the newsroom, for you to receive news and updates according to your subscription settings.
- Anonymous trolls responsible for fake porn videos and online abuse should face the full rigour of the law, Justice Minister Naomi Long has said.
- “However, Incognito mode doesn’t hide traffic from third parties, and it doesn’t secure traffic from hackers or other attacks and vulnerabilities. Your browsing data can still be collected by your ISP, your employer, and any other third party that can track your IP address,” said Markuson.
- The Revenge Porn Helpline is a UK service supporting adults (aged 18+) who are experiencing intimate image abuse, also known as, revenge porn.
“I know child porn my models personally, to ensure they’re working with people they trust, and that the sex feels good for them – their pleasure isn’t faked,” explains founder Anna Richards. Without a fully engaged ISP sector, the Online Safety Act will struggle to deliver the holistic protections that children, families and all internet users deserve. Prior to this announcement, only commercial porn sites that allow user-generated content were in the scope of the Bill – the update means all commercial porn sites are now within the scope of the proposed new rules. Mr Kyle said the introduction of the Online Safety Act would make safety an “unignorable issue” for social media companies, warning “they can no longer just look the other way or have other priorities”. The Government said it hoped the crackdown would help drive the development of new and existing technologies to help keep people safer online, while also helping to tackle sexual offending and the normalisation of misogynistic material being shared online.
Even within the US, new age verification laws are making it harder to access pornography. In those situations, a VPN would be a useful tool, but we must stress that we are not advocating breaking any laws and must caution that doing so can have serious consequences. Ofcom has said that the checks can include facial age estimation, open banking, digital identity services, credit card age checks, email-based age estimation, mobile network operator age checks, and photo ID-matching.
We can rehabilitate those people who have been prosecuted with programmes to enhance well-being such as The Good Lives Model. Society can begin to address this hidden taboo and then we will see things get better for everyone. Children in the UK will be able to live a safer life online under new Ofcom protections which set ambitious new safety standards for tech firms. As the UK’s online safety regulator, protecting children is a priority for Ofcom. We’re determined to make the online world a better place for them – and to give parents peace of mind that their children will be better protected from the risks they might face. In the UK people are familiar with having to prove their age in the offline world to buy age-restricted goods like alcohol and tobacco.