The UK government is considering using facial recognition tech to age-block porn viewers
- A junior minister in the UK government has said it is considering using facial recognition to verify porn watchers, even though plans for a so-called "porn block" were ostensibly scrapped on Wednesday.
- Speaking in a Parliamentary session on Thursday, Matt Warman said Boris Johnson's government could could use facial recognition to verify age "so long as there is an appropriate concern for privacy."
- The "porn-block" was ostensibly scrapped on Wednesday by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, but the status of that decision now seems uncertain.
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A junior minister in the UK government has said it is considering using facial recognition to verify porn watchers' identities, despite the government stating on Wednesday that it had scrapped the plans intended to stop under-eighteens watching adult material.
Speaking in Parliament on Thursday, Matt Warman - the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport - responded to a question from Margot James, Conservative MP for Stourbridge about the future of age verification for online pornography in the UK.
Warman said the British government could use facial recognition to verify age "so long as there is an appropriate concern for privacy." He added that "all of these are things I hope we will be able to wrap up in the new approach, because they will deliver better results for consumers - child or adult alike."
Read more: The UK porn block has been scrapped by Boris Johnson's government
James' question to Warman was prompted by the UK's government's ostensible decision, announced on Wednesday, to scrap its so-called "porn block."
The porn block constitutes part three of the Digital Economy Act, first proposed in 2017, and was originally supposed to be rolled out in April 2018. It was subsequently delayed until July 15, 2019, and then Wednesday's announcement appeared to nix it altogether.
Should the porn block ever come into force, websites sharing adult content will be required to implement an age verification mechanism or risk being blocked in the UK. Consequently, anyone attempting to view porn would be required prove their age.
As it stands, the legislation would leave it up to the porn sites themselves to decide how to implement such age-verification, with facial recognition technology among raft of implementation methods mooted by MPs.
In the same Parliamentary session on Thursday, Tom Watson MP, deputy leader of the Labour Party, also criticized the government's handling of the proposed porn block. He asked Warman to "tell us how much public money has been spent on this failed policy."
In response, Warman said it was "silly to suggest that that is money wasted. It is money invested in protecting our children, and we will continue to do that."