With the United Kingdom planning to implement a new, long-planned law blocking online porn sites to anyone under 18 years of age—a law that critics call a “privacy time bomb,” as AVN.com reported—the country next door to the U.K., the Republic of Ireland, is now considering a porn block law of its own.
The U.K. law will, at least in theory, block all online porn sites unless users upload potentially sensitive personal documents providing proof of age. Other countries, including India and China—which between them account for 37 percent of the global population—have imposed online censorship blocking, or attempting to block, porn sites.
But the U.K. law will institute an “age verification” system where porn will remain available, but only to those willing to prove their age. It will be the first of its kind in the world.
On Thursday, however, the U.K. government was expected to announce that the implementation of law, passed in 2017, would again be delayed indefinitely, according to sources who spoke to Sky News, a development that will likely set back Ireland’s own efforts to create its own law.
According to a report by the Irish newspaper The Journal, Ireland’s Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan has now confirmed that Ireland is considering implementing its own version of the UK porn block law.
And on Wednesday, Irish Prime Minister—or Taoiseach, as the post is called in Ireland—Leo Varadkar (pictured above) said that the Irish government would “consult” with its U.K. counterpart to “review” how well the porn block law works there.
Varadkar also gave the green light for the Communications Committee in Ireland’s parliament, or Oireachtas, to open discussions on an Irish porn blocking law. The Taoiseach also said that legislation was currently being drafted to create a new government office of “Digital Safety Commissioner,” to oversee regulation of online content.
But Varadkar also said that he was “wary of moralizing” and did not want the Irish government to become involved in censorship. Nonetheless, Varadkar faced considerable pressure from legislators, who have accused Varadkar of “dragging his feet” on the issue.
“Access to vile and violent material including pornographic material on the World Wide Web is deeply troubling and has real-life consequences,” Sinn Fein party member Mary Lou McDonald said at a legislative session Wednesday.
Photo By European People's Party / Wikimedia Commons
