UK Data Regulator Tackles Porn Sites Over Children’s Access
- Stance marks a U-turn for UK data protection regulator
- Adult sites will be required to prevent children’s access
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The UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office has pledged to crack down on porn sites and other adult-only services to ensure they are taking steps, such as verifying users’ ages, to prevent children’s access, the regulator said Friday.
The new enforcement plans are a reversal for the ICO, which had previously maintained that services aimed at adults weren’t subject to the Children’s Code or Age Appropriate Design Code, a set of rules that guide how the UK Data Protection Act should be applied to digital services for children. It also follows a Bloomberg News report last month that showed the regulator hadn’t enforced a single child-protection case in the two years since the Children’s Code came into effect.