NSPCC demands law to ban porn websites in UK as government reveals plans for fines
The children's charity says kids are endangered by porn websites without age blocks for viewing adult content
A GENERATION of kids will see their childhood stripped away from them because of the Government’s failure to get tough on online porn – a charity claims.
The NSPCC last night said it defied belief that porn giants who fail to introduce online age verification checks for over 18 year-olds will escape a ban in new Government legislation.
And it demands Ministers toughen rules to ensure that porn giants who breach the new rules can be blocked by internet service providers.
Under proposals in a new Digital Economy Bill, the Government only reserves the right to fine porn giants as much as £250,000 for failing to put an age block online.
A spokesman insisted credit card providers would also withdraw their services to cut off the porn companies’ cash flow.
But NSPCC chief Sir Peter Wanless said this did not go far enough. He said: “Children in the UK are not allowed to go into sex shops, buy 18 certificate films.
“We simply want children to be protected from adult-only material online as they are in the off-line world.
A generation of children are in danger of being stripped of their childhoods at a young age by stumbling across extreme and violent porn online.”
He added: “We believe that if a company can’t operate within the law they should not be able to do business in the UK.”
The Tories promised to introduce an age block in the 2015 General Election manifesto.
In July David Cameron reiterated the threat – and insisted the Government was “working hard to make the internet a safer place for children”.
A Childline poll 12 to 13 year-olds last year found that one in ten children worry they are addicted to porn.
One in five said they had seen pornographic images which shocked or upset them.
A spokesman for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport insisted the new bill would make age verification compulsory, and claimed the threat of a fine was “consistent” with the UK’s overall approach to dealing with harmful web content.
He said: “This Government has done more than any other to keep children safe online. It is one of our key priorities to make sure children are prevented from accessing pornographic content online.”