PCR Tech and IT retail, distribution and vendor news
Porn sites that fail to stop children accessing explicit images will have their payments from customers stopped by banks, as part of a government plan.
The Telegraph has reported that the scheme will be finalised in talks between financial organisations and the video services regulator next month.
Under the plans, banks will withhold payments to sites that don’t have efficient enough countermeasures to stop under-age children viewing the explicit material, even if the material itself is legal.
Many websites have age-gates or membership-only access to stop children browsing the web from stumbling onto the images and videos, but other websites offer unrestricted access for free.
The scheme is the first time that punishments designed to protect children from legal but unsuitable content will be introduced, and the first time that banks have been asked to contribute to punishments for similar internet-based violations.
The initiative follows Government attempts since last year to introduce an ISP-level ‘smut filter’ to restrict access to lewd images.
Image of family filter button courtesy of Shutterstock.co.uk
