What is the UK’s Digital Economy Bill and how could tough new online porn restrictions affect you?
Female ejaculation, sexual acts in public, and spanking are all in the porn police's firing line
THE government is currently planning to regulate the porn industry by banning certain types of adult content - and female ejaculation, spanking and public sex are all in the firing line.
The Digital Economy Bill, which is being considered in Parliament, would impose tough restrictions on what adult acts are allowed in future pornographic movies.
Here's all you need to know about the proposed new porn restrictions...
What is the Digital Economy Bill?
The bill, backed by Theresa May's government, is designed to crack down on "non-conventional sexual acts" in a bid to clean up online content.
If the bill is approved, the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) will be given powers to regulate online porn - and ban certain acts from being filmed.
The BBFC doesn't have an exhaustive list of banned acts, but is expected to crack down on a number of sexual behaviours which don't fit its tough guidelines.
However, porn experts and industry figures are concerned that the guidelines aren't exhaustive, and can easily be interpreted to expand censorship into whole new areas.
Academics are concerned that female ejaculation, sexual acts in public, and spanking, whipping or caning which leaves marks may be banned in the near future - even if the acts are clearly consensual.
Likewise, sexual acts involving menstruation or urination, and inserting more than four fingers into an orifice may also be banned by the porn police.
Sex acts which may be banned under BBFC rules
- Infliction of pain or acts which may cause lasting physical harm
- Sexual activity which involves real or apparent lack of consent
- Penetration by any object associated with violence
- Sexual threats, humiliation or abuse which do not form part of a clearly consenting role-playing game
- Any form of physical restraint which prevents participants from indicating a withdrawal of consent
- Material (including dialogue) likely to encourage an interest in sexually abusive activity which may include adults role-playing as non-adults
- Female ejaculation
- Sexual acts involving menstruation
- Sexual acts involving urination
- Sexual acts in public
- Spanking, whipping or canning which leaves marks
- Inserting more than four fingers into an orifice
The rule is similar to 2014 legislation which banned many of the "non-conventional" acts from being included in pornography produced in the UK.
But the new law would go a step further by banning British viewers from accessing any footage containing the offending acts, even if the footage is hosted on overseas websites.
The Digital Economy Bill also includes a raft of measures to prevent children from viewing adult content online, including the introduction of tough age verification checks.
How are the government planning on enforcing age verification rules?
This means that you may have to input your credit card details, mobile numbers or even show ID in person to access explicit material.
The new rules are designed to make it harder for children to stumble across adult content, which is why the age verification process won’t just involve mindlessly ticking a box on porn sites.