In a first-of-its-kind initiative in the Cachar district, <keyword id="6354915" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Assam" source="Orion">Assam</keyword> <keyword id="11098" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Police" source="Orion">Police</keyword> on Sunday organised a '<keyword id="6435004" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="passport-mela" source="Orion">Passport Mela</keyword>' at Silchar to clear off the pending applications for passports. Almost 1,700 applicants had been given appointments and were asked to remain present along with all the documents required for police verification for getting a passport. Superintendent of Police, Cachar district Numal <keyword id="52339" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="mahato" source="Orion">Mahato</keyword> said: "Chief Minister has instructed the police department to be people-centric and expedite all the works related to service to the people. In line with his call, we have organised this passport <keyword id="6363014" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="mela" source="Orion">Mela</keyword> to dispose of the pending passport verification." According to the police officer, such initiatives will strengthen the police-public relation. The local authorities of the district court were also requested to be present there so that people who need an affidavit could easily avail of it. "We have urged the people with genuine documents whose police verification was pending to come here and the one-day benefit," Mahato added. The drive continued for the whole day and the police officials set up eight tables to increase the efficacy of the one-day service. Passport Mela was organised at Cachar SP office premises and was inaugurated by Silchar MP Rajdeep Roy. Local MLA and other government officials were also present. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/coal-production-hits-a-new-milestone-in-h1-fy23-coal-despatch-to-power-sector-rises-17/articleshow/95195485.cms">Coal production hits a new milestone in H1 FY23, coal despatch to power sector rises 17%</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/most-indian-firms-still-face-key-challenges-towards-net-zero-goals/articleshow/95123114.cms">Most Indian firms still face key challenges towards net-zero goals</a>

Assam Police arrange 'Mela' to clear off pending passport applications

<img class="gwt-Image" src="/photo/50755651.cms" /> In a welcome move, the <keyword id="6374106" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Ministry-of-External-Affairs">ministry of external affairs</keyword> has announced two major changes to fast-track the process of getting passports for the first time. 
 
Now Indian citizens can get a fresh normal category passport under a week’s time. One would only need three documents, copies of Aadhaar card, electoral photo identity card (EPIC) and PAN card, besides an affidavit in the format of Annexure-I (declaration of citizenship, family details and no criminal record). 
 
As of now, the process took a month, because of the police verification that took up a lot of time. 
 
In the changed rules, police verification will be conducted after the passport is issued. This was reserved only for the Tatkal process, a costlier but effective process. Now there would be no extra charge for the service. 
 
However, for this process, online validation of the Aadhaar number at the time of processing would be required, along with an approval from the granting officer. 
 
"There are plenty of inbuilt safeguards in our system which can instantly spot fake identities and forgeries. Most importantly, our system is linked to the Aadhaar database which helps conduct real-time verification of the applicant while he/she is still at the passport seva kendra," Anil Kumar Sobti, director of the passport division in the ministry, told TOI. 
 
 
"We are trying to integrate EPIC and PAN cards as well. Additionally, the granting officer interviewing the applicant can use his discretion to extend or withhold the facility. Besides, the option of impounding or revoking the passport post issuance is always available and we have exercised it several times in 2015," Sobti stated. 
 
The second change will give applicants the liberty to choose a date from the next five available working days to schedule their appointment at their chosen Passport Seva Kendra under the relevant Regional Passport Office (RPO).

Thanks to MEA, you only need four documents to get an Indian passport within a week

<img class="gwt-Image" src="/photo/57972751.cms" /> 
For your passport getting delayed, failure to provide an FIR copy on same day or not releasing impounded vehicles after completion of formalities are all set to become pricier for police. Suggested by the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&amp;D), police would be made to pay penalty of delay in service. 
 
The report has been prepared for delivery of services to citizens as part of a drive to promote good practices, accountability and transparency in police services 
 
The police research body has included 45 services as 'Public Delivery Services' and suggested that on duty policeman be fined for failing to do his/her duties. These include issues like tenants and foreigners; issuance of licence; no objection certificate for a music programme; post-mortem reports; NOC for protest, apart from arrests, investigations and regular policing. 
 
The fines, suggested by the apex police research wing, would range between Rs 250 per day of delay to Rs 5000. 
These 45 public delivery services of police will also be included in a 'Citizens' Charter' of states/UTs to empower citizens and improve quality of life while also generating goodwill and community support for police.

Delay in passport verification or failure to provide FIR copy could make police pay hefty fine

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A new phase of the US immunization campaign has begun, with supply now expected to exceed demand.</li><li>Public-health experts are debating whether vaccine mandates for some groups would help or hurt.</li><li>Some organizations, like a major Houston <keyword id="6354750" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="health">health</keyword> system, are requiring the shot for their employees.</li></ul>The US vaccination campaign is entering a new phase, marked by excess supply of shots. And public-health experts, bioethicists, and doctors are debating whether or not mandating the COVID-19 vaccine would be helpful or harmful.The arguments for and against mandates are shaping up to be a signature element of this next phase of the immunization campaign, as the key challenge in reaching herd immunity shifts from supply to demand. And experts are split on whether or not it's time to start enacting such requirements, as much of the nation continues to re-open and relax public-health restrictions.Amid the debate, a small smattering of businesses and organizations are already requiring the shot, including <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/want-that-job-offer-a-covid-19-vaccine-is-now-required-11619438580">a New York restaurant, a factory in Louisville, Kentucky</a>, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/houston-hospital-covid-19-vaccine-fire-staff-employees-refuse-texas-2021-4">and a large health system in Houston</a>. <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/29/health/student-vaccine-requirement/index.html">More than 100 colleges and universities</a> have said they will require the shot for students and staff to return to campuses in the fall.Overall, in conversations with five bioethicists, doctors, and public-health experts, Insider found an array of opinions on mandates. The most ardent backers say they should be rolled out now. Other supporters say they make sense in the next few months. Other experts warned the mandates are a heavy-handed approach that will be harmful at this stage in the rollout. There should be more in education and outreach to hesitant groups before requiring the shot, they say.Art Caplan, a bioethicist at New York University, said he hopes more groups will follow the mandate track. "Why are we still battling vaccine hesitancy with one hand behind our back?" Caplan told Insider. "Let's start to move a mandate through populations that are posing risks to others." Caplan and other experts in favor of mandates aren't talking about requiring the general public to be immunized. Instead, he said specific groups of people should be required to get the shot. His list includes <keyword id="6354525" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="healthcare">healthcare</keyword> workers, nursing home staff, military, people in congregate living settings like college dorms or group homes, customs and immigration workers, and people working in prisons or jails. Many of these groups were among the first to be offered the shot.<div type="image" title="Bioethicist Arthur Caplan says a coronavirus vaccine could create &quot;the biggest ethical challenge the world has ever seen.&quot;" height="1100" width="1466" msid="82345088" hostid="261"></div>To do this, Caplan wants action at multiple levels, including the federal government, state governments, and private organizations. For example, a state legislature could insist its state police force be immunized. A private hospital could adopt a policy on its own, similar to the way many healthcare organizations require the flu shot. In Caplan's view, mandates would help maintain the pace of vaccination, which has fallen dramatically over the past few weeks.The rate of adults in the US getting their first dose peaked in early April at nearly 2 million per day. Now, <a href="https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#vaccination-trends">that pace has dropped by nearly 50%</a>, to about 1.1 million daily. About 55% of adults in the US have received at least one dose, with 38% fully immunized, <a href="https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#vaccinations">according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention</a>. People on the fence about the shot would be nudged to roll up their sleeve. Ultimately, mandates would leave the US better prepared against the threat of another wave of illnesses and deaths, Caplan says.Not all experts agree. Dr. Tia Powell, director of the Montefiore-Einstein Center for <keyword id="157240" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="bioethics">Bioethics</keyword>, told Insider that mandates are the wrong strategy and will be harmful."It's expedient. It feels efficient," Powell said. "But I think it's really shooting yourself in the foot in the long run, particularly for any matter dealing with public health.""The lack of trust in medicine and government is a critical issue right now," she added. "This will really light that problem on fire if you're forcing people to take the vaccine who are uncomfortable and frightened about it at the expense of losing their job."As the unsettled debate heats up, some businesses and organizations are already rolling out requirements, tethering employment to someone's vaccination status. Job postings ranging from a sommelier at an upscale restaurant in New York to an assistant at the Boys &amp; Girls Clubs in San Francisco are requiring vaccination, <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/want-that-job-offer-a-covid-19-vaccine-is-now-required-11619438580?st=55i0s8m49b4zvqh&amp;reflink=desktopwebshare_twittertter">The Wall Street Journal's Chip Cutter reported</a>. Mandates could also skirt around some of the more troubling concerns around the idea of so-called vaccine passports, or digital apps that could allow businesses -like a theater, sports stadium, or concert hall - to verify the vaccination status of their customers. Vaccine passports have become a heavily politicized topic, with <a href="https://www.newsday.com/opinion/coronavirus/covid-19-vaccine-passports-pros-and-cons-tracking-privacy-security-return-to-normal-coronavirus-excelsior-pass-1.50230648">critics arguing it is an invasion of privacy and allows people to be tracked</a>. Mandates, unlike passports, would likely be a one-time verification with an employer or specific organization. <h2>Mandates face many challenges, but there is precedent</h2><div type="image" title="covid19 vaccine" height="1317" width="1761" msid="82345091" hostid="261"></div>Mandates face an array of legal, ethical, and logistical challenges.Experts widely anticipate that a mandate will eventually wind up in court, challenged by a civil-rights or libertarian group. Advocates like Caplan and Dr. Robert Wachter, chair of University of California, San Francisco's medical school, said they're confident mandates would legally prevail. In general, <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/can-an-employer-require-you-to-get-a-covid-19-vaccine-11600434001?mod=article_inline">employers can require vaccination,</a> providing some exemptions for medical and religious reasons. Mandates aren't unheard of. Many healthcare systems require the flu shot. Basic vaccinations, like against measles, are required for children in many states to attend school or daycare. Even then, these mandates <a href="https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1905941">aren't foolproof and have brought controversy</a>. Small-scale measles outbreaks <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/68/wr/mm6840e2.htm?s_cid=mm6840e2_w">have still happened recently in the US.</a> Parents can typically claim a range of religious or medical exemptions to avoid the requirement for their children.A common argument against enacting mandates now is the COVID-19 vaccines are not fully approved medicines. US regulators issued emergency use authorizations for the shots developed by Moderna, Pfizer-BioNTech, and Johnson &amp; Johnson. An EUA provides regulators with more flexibility during a crisis than the standard pathway of approval."If it is fully approved, I'm a lot more comfortable with it," said Andrew Noymer, an associate professor in population health and disease prevention at University of California, Irvine.For now, Noymer said groups should be doing more educational work to convince hesitant people."I think mandates are for when you've exhausted all approaches that make people feel like stakeholders," Noymer said. "It's heavy-handed, and I think we need to exhaust all avenues of encouragement before we go to mandates."Caplan and Wachter don't buy the argument on waiting for full approval. Both experts rebuffed the notion that these vaccines should be treated like experimental medicines, citing the fact that more than 140 million Americans have already gotten at least one dose. "If you're not sure that it should be out there, then what are we doing?" Caplan said. "Of course we're sure this is a safe and good thing to do: we're vaccinating millions."Waiting until full approval is a "quasi-argument," Wachter said, given the results from the rollout show these vaccines to be extremely safe and protective."The evidence on the vaccines after having been administered to more than 100 million people in the United States, the evidence is as clear as it's going to be that they are breathtakingly effective," Wachter said.Some experts also see ethical challenges for mandates today. Powell, the bioethicist in New York, said such requirements needlessly lean on the force of authority, threatening to further politicize public health."We haven't earned the right to come in and enforce," she said. "It's lazy and it's arrogant and I don't think we should do that."Stefanie Friedhoff, a professor of the practice in health services, policy, and practice at Brown University School of Public Health, said ""there's absolutely a role for mandates to play."But she also said that how they are rolled out and communicated with the public is crucial in gaining support. In particular, she said people should still have time to make the decision. Forcing them into vaccination may stoke distrust, particularly among people of color who have <a href="https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/newsletter-article/2021/jan/medical-mistrust-among-black-americans">a deservedly rocky history in trusting the medical system</a>."In the long run, we need the mandates. They are important and they get people over the hill," Friedhoff said. "But in this current moment, we have these overlapping issues and it's not just the EUA. It includes the overall respect for some people will take a little bit of time to get to that decision and to give them the chance to trust the healthcare system in new ways. That's where I think a mandate has the potential to backfire."Ultimately, even for proponents of mandates, the logistical hurdles are daunting. There's no federal system to authenticate that someone has gotten a vaccine. People get paper cards from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention after getting the shot, but those can be easily forged. <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/covid-vaccination-cards-fake-scammers-fraud/">Scammers already sell fake cards online</a>. A mandate would be tough to enforce if it's difficult to validate someone's vaccination status."To me, I don't think the legal issues are problematic. I don't find the ethical issues particularly problematic now that vaccine is available for everyone," said Wachter. "Right now, it's mainly a matter of can we come up with a trustworthy system. We should have started on it six months ago, but we didn't, so now we got to scramble."If those logistics can be figured out, Wachter said vaccination mandates will be close to a no-brainer for many employers and organizations."By and large, the benefits of not only moving the entire community toward herd immunity but creating a workplace where everyone feels that it is safe to be there far outweigh the downsides," he said.<h2>Mandates are being trotted out. Will more follow?</h2><div type="image" title="Houston hospital patient" height="1000" width="2000" msid="82345093" hostid="261"></div>Even as the debate goes on, mandates are happening at some organizations, including Houston Methodist Hospital. The 26,000-worker health system became the first major health system to require the shot so far. Every employee <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/26/us/houston-methodist-covid-vaccine-mandate-trnd/index.html">needs to provide proof of vaccination by June 7</a>. Workers need to apply for medical or religious exemptions by May 3. For those that still choose not to get vaccinated and don't have an exemption, they will be suspended without pay and eventually fired.Jennifer Bridges, a nurse at Houston Methodist, is planning to sue the hospital over the requirement. "All we're asking is: just more time," <a href="https://www.khou.com/article/news/local/nurse-lawsuit-houston-methodist-covid-vaccine/285-ba99beea-cd8e-4151-8771-82299e98b6d6">she told KHOU11, a local TV news station</a>. There about 3,000 employees holding out on getting the vaccine, Houston Methodist CEO Dr. Marc Boom said, defending the policy even in the face of legal threats. "We're never going to make anybody take the vaccine," <a href="https://www.khou.com/article/news/local/nurse-lawsuit-houston-methodist-covid-vaccine/285-ba99beea-cd8e-4151-8771-82299e98b6d6">he told KHOU11</a>. "But at the end of the day if they choose not to take the vaccine there are many other places they can work."More health systems could follow soon. Houston's Memorial Hermann Health System is also planning on mandating the shot for workers, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/26/us/houston-methodist-covid-vaccine-mandate-trnd/index.html">CNN reported on April 26</a>. That organization has yet to set a firm deadline for getting the shot. Wachter said he's particularly surprised that so few healthcare organizations have implemented requirements."I don't think it's a close call anymore," he said. "Someone working in an environment surrounded by people at high risk of getting very sick and dying have an ethical obligation to be vaccinated."Healthcare systems may be fretting about the politics and pushback from some employees, Wachter said. It's likely a handful of workers would quit an organization over such a mandate. Still, Wachter said he's imploring healthcare systems to step up, particularly as some colleges and businesses are ahead in requiring vaccination.One surprising element is far more colleges have said they will require vaccination than hospitals and health systems. That could lead to a bizarre dynamic this fall, UCI's Noymer said, when college kids need to get the shot but not necessarily most doctors or nurses. "If your local state U is requiring it of their freshmen, it's a good question why your local hospital isn't requiring it of a respiratory tech or a doctor," he said. "I think things will come to a head in the fall, when you have literally dozens of colleges and universities requiring it for returning students but not your local hospital. That seems weird."Dr. Francis Collins, the head of the National Institutes of Health, said he wouldn't disagree with private groups mandating the vaccine.Collins <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/video/full-nih-director-interview-110815301993">said Sunday on Meet the Press</a> that once "we no longer have this block about it being emergency use" groups could be more assertive in encouraging or requiring the shot.For now, Collins is only encouraging, not mandating, vaccination within the NIH, he said.

Should the COVID-19 vaccine be mandated? Debate takes center stage, as hospitals, colleges and businesses start requiring the shot.

<ul><li> According to the new scheme announced this Tuesday, Indian citizens can submit their passport application to any Regional Passport Office (RPO), Passport Seva Kendra (PSK) or Post Office Passport Seva Kendra (POPSK) near them. </li><li>The application process has been made even more convenient with the launch of an app to facilitate the same. </li><li>At least one PSK or POPSK will be set up in all the 543 Lok Sabha constituencies to make the process even more convenient. </li></ul>Applying for a passport has become a lot easier now. External Affairs Minister <keyword id="6355111" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Sushma-Swaraj">Sushma Swaraj</keyword> announced a <a href="https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/national/now-apply-for-passport-from-anywhere-in-india-mea/article24268619.ece?homepage=true">new scheme</a> this Tuesday that lets an Indian citizen apply for a passport anywhere in the country irrespective of where his/her residence is. Earlier, the applicant needed to go to the Regional Passport Office (RPO) under whose jurisdiction the area of the applicant’s residence fell. However, now the citizens can submit the application to any the Regional Passport Office (RPO), Passport Seva Kendra (PSK) or Post Office Passport Seva Kendra (POPSK) near them. If police verification is needed for any application, it will be conducted at the residential address provided on the <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/now-apply-for-passport-from-anywhere-in-india-centre/articleshow/64752466.cms">application </a>form. The passport, once made, will also be printed and dispatched to the same address. The scheme is expected to greatly benefit citizens who have temporarily migrated, relocated or transferred away from home. The application process has been made even more convenient with the launch of an app. The app named<a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/heres-how-you-can-now-get-a-passport-without-any-hassles/articleshow/64757695.cms"> mPassport Seva App</a> helps do away with computers and printers that was earlier needed for the process. The app is available on both Android and iOS platforms. It lets you log in as a new user or an existing user and supports services like applying, paying and scheduling appointments. Applying for required documents like, a police clearance certificate, will also be a click away. You can also track the status of your passport application using just your date of birth and file number. Once the passport is dispatched, you can also track its delivery through the app. Swaraj choose the occasion of the <keyword id="6657307" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Sixth-Passport-Seva-Divas">Sixth Passport Seva Divas</keyword> to announce the schemes, after which she talked about the developments that had already taken place in the process of passport application. She said that there were <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/now-apply-for-passport-from-anywhere-in-india-centre/articleshow/64752466.cms">77 PSKs</a> made available in 48 years, while 231 more were added in the last 48 months. These add up to make 307 PSKs at present, in <keyword id="3658" type="LOCATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="India">India</keyword>. Speaking at the event, Swaraj further announced that since these are still not enough, at least one PSK or POPSK will be set up in all the 543 Lok Sabha constituencies to make the process even more convenient. Recalling all the developments made over her time, the minister called it a “<a href="https://www.businesstoday.in/current/economy-politics/big-relief-now-apply-for-passport-from-anywhere-in-india/story/279605.html">passport revolution</a>” as she pointed out that unnecessary requirements for a passport including the marriage certificate, had been scrapped during her tenure.

Applying for a passport in India is now just a click away

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The <keyword id="6359816" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="irs" source="Orion">IRS</keyword> could soon require anyone logging into IRS.gov to use <keyword id="13098507" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="id-me" source="Orion">ID.me</keyword> to verify their identity.</li><li><keyword id="6355135" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="privacy" source="Orion">Privacy</keyword> experts and civil-rights advocates worry ID.me will share its data trove with authorities.</li></ul>A possible collaboration between the <keyword id="12136286" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="internal-revenue-service" source="Orion">Internal Revenue Service</keyword> and a startup called ID.me is alarming privacy experts and civil-rights advocates who say the partnership will create a massive new pool of sensitive personal data that could be tapped by the police, immigration enforcement, and other authorities. ID.me verifies people's identities by asking them to upload information, including their Social Security number, a selfie, and pictures of a government-issued ID. It then uses <keyword id="12320770" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="facial-recognition" source="Orion">facial recognition</keyword> and "liveness detection" on the pictures, and compares the submitted information to data from "telecommunications networks, credit card bureaus, financial institutions," and other sources, <a href="https://www.id.me/privacy">according to its privacy policy</a>. The company also stores the "inferred citizenship" of some users "based on passport information," along with facial images, voiceprints, location data, and information from documents such as postal addresses, Social Security numbers, driver's license numbers, passport-card numbers, and more, according to the policy. Last month, the IRS said it would start <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/irs-id-me-tax-file-2022/">requiring people logging into their accounts</a> on the IRS website to use ID.me to verify their identities. The agency is considering <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-01-28/treasury-weighing-id-me-alternatives-over-privacy-concerns">alternative providers</a>, but if the deal goes through, it would likely add millions to the company's user base, which already exceeds <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/idme-secures-100-million-from-fortress-to-support-record-growth-and-advance-vision-to-build-the-identity-layer-of-the-internet-301377780.html">60 million members</a>. The technology is now used for identity verification to <a href="https://help.id.me/hc/en-us/categories/360004475354-Verifying-for-State-Benefits">access benefits in 27 states.</a>What really worries observers is how much information ID.me collects and how willing the company seems to be to share that with authorities when asked. "It feels like the IRS has integrated this service into its website without a lot of vetting or really necessarily thinking through these issues," Jeramie Scott, a senior counsel for the Electronic Privacy Information Center, told Insider.The company states in its <a href="https://www.id.me/privacy">privacy policy</a> that it will "access, preserve and share" personal information with law enforcement if asked. "We reserve the right to disclose your Personally Identifiable Information as required by law and when we believe that disclosure is necessary to protect you, our rights and/or comply with a judicial proceeding, court order, or legal process," ID.me writes.Big <keyword id="6358815" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="tech" source="Orion">Tech</keyword> platforms, including Google, Facebook, and Apple, host billions of pieces of personal data and are regularly subpoenaed by law-enforcement agencies. These companies often comply, but they also push back sometimes. For instance, Apple has fought law-enforcement requests to unlock the iPhones of some suspects.Jay Stanley, a senior policy analyst for the American Civil Liberties Union, told Insider that the way ID.me talks about law-enforcement compliance is broader than other companies and implies that ID.me can and will comply with police requests voluntarily, even when it's not strictly required by law or court order."You read a lot of privacy policies and they say, 'warning, that data we collect will be provided to law enforcement where the law requires it,'" Stanley said. "Their privacy policy says, 'We will comply with this request voluntarily where the law doesn't prevent it.' Basically, putting the world on notice that they're going to voluntarily cooperate with law enforcement in sharing of people's data."Patrick Dorton, who works for a PR firm ID.me hired, said biometric data "is not shared with the IRS or any government agencies absent the receipt of a subpoena or as part of an investigation into an identity theft or fraud case only at the specific agency where the ID.me account was involved." Referring to the "inferred citizenship" disclosure in ID.me's privacy policy, Dorton said less than 4% of users opt to share a passport image to verify their identity through the service. "The California Consumer Privacy Act requires that companies like ID.me that collect passport and biometric data to disclose to consumers what other data may be 'inferred' such as citizenship from that data collection," Dorton told Insider. "Hence ID.me disclosed this possibility because a small percentage of users opt for passports despite the fact that the company does not categorize any personal passport information by citizenship or nationality."He also noted that ID.me doesn't work with the CBP or ICE. He did not address several other questions from Insider, including under what circumstances ID.me would push back against a law-enforcement request like a subpoena, how many times ID.me has complied with law-enforcement requests, and whether ID.me would push back on a hypothetical request from <keyword id="12137954" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="customs-and-border-protection" source="Orion">Customs and Border Protection</keyword> for the data of all ID.me users who are inferred noncitizens.There are US laws that limit the collection of personal data in certain circumstances. One federal law prevents the Department of Homeland Security from routinely accessing people's <keyword id="12148805" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="tax" source="Orion">tax</keyword> returns. Samir Jain, director of policy for the Center for Democracy &amp; Technology, told Insider that this law — Title 26, Section 6103 of the Internal Revenue Code — generally applies to information submitted to the IRS as part of the tax-filing process. But ID.me technically isn't part of the tax-filing process. Rather, it would act as an identity confirmation tool for logging into an IRS.gov account. This could lead the DHS to believe that ID.me isn't subject to the law."Ideally, the law would cover the biometric data and other personal information collected by ID.me, and generally prevent that information from being disclosed to a law enforcement agency like DHS," Jain said. "It's not completely clear to me that it does. And consequently, it likely means that DHS would interpret it as not covering this particular information." DHS did not respond to a request for comment on Thursday. The IRS code has exemptions that allow DHS agencies to access people's tax-return information but only under extreme conditions, such as a person <a href="https://bipartisanpolicy.org/blog/how-does-information-sharing-between-dhs-and-other-non-enforcement-executive-agencies-work/">under investigation for tax fraud.</a> A <a href="https://www.aclu.org/letter/foia-request-ssa">2018 letter</a> from the ACLU to the Social Security Administration argued that "immigration enforcement" isn't a legal exemption that would permit sharing data with DHS. "The strict confidentiality of tax returns and related return information is critical to encourage and ensure public compliance with the federal tax laws," the letter said.The IRS spokesperson Robert Marvin said a lack of funding for IT modernization has made it impossible for the IRS to invest in state-of-the-art technology.""The IRS today uses third-party service providers to validate the identification of individuals attempting to improperly gain access to taxpayer accounts," Marvin added in a statement that he asked to be attributed to the US Treasury Department. "This includes ID.me, which is compliant with the National Institute of Security Technology standards and used by multiple agencies across the government."The Treasury Department recently said it was looking into alternatives to ID.me for the IRS after a <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2022-01-20/cybersecurity-company-id-me-is-becoming-government-s-digital-gatekeeper?sref=BWbpWjRm">Bloomberg reported</a> that some people have been unable to get unemployment benefits due to problems using ID.me's service. <a href="https://www.cyberscoop.com/id-me-ceo-backtracks-on-claims-company-doesnt-use-powerful-facial-recognition-tech/">A Cyberscoop article</a> also showed that ID.me misrepresented how it uses facial recognition. The company claimed to do one-to-one face matching, such as determining whether a selfie matches a driver's license provided by a user. In fact, it uses a method known as one-to-many matching, which compares images to a stored database of photos, but ID.me hasn't disclosed how many images it has or how it got them."We shouldn't be required to trust that ID.me will push back on those kinds of requests if they receive them," said Scott from the Electronic Privacy Information Center. It's critical for government agencies to evaluate any company they may work with, especially what data the company is getting, and how it can use or disclose that information, he added.The IRS' evaluation of ID.me "really isn't being done appropriately," Scott said.A previous version of this story wrongly attributed Samir Jain's quote to Jay Stanley, and Stanley's quote to Jain. The article has also been updated to include more comments from ID.me's spokesman. Got a tip? Contact this reporter at chaskins@insider.com or caroline.haskins@protonmail.com, or via secure messaging app Signal at +1 (785) 813-1084. Reach out using a non-work device. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/insider-guide-to-securely-sharing-whistleblower-information-about-powerful-institutions-2021-10">Check out Insider's source guide</a> for other suggestions on how to share information securely.

When you log in to your IRS account this tax season you'll likely have to use ID.me to verify your identity. The service scoops up a huge pool of personal data that police and other authorities could tap into.

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5cb8a309daa9a9180831028b-2400/woman finger on lips.jpg" border="0" alt="Woman finger on lips" data-mce-source="Getty" data-mce-caption="Woman finger on lips" />GettyWoman finger on lips</div></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li>It's about to become much more difficult to watch porn in the UK.</li><li>Porn in the UK will be age-blocked as of July 15, with porn sites having to bring in age-verification.</li><li>One of the proposed age-verification systems is called Portes. It involves going down to a physical shop and buying a voucher, which is then uploaded via an app.</li><li>Business Insider spoke to Serge Acker, the CEO of the company that owns Portes, to find out exactly how it will work.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit BusinessInsider.com for more stories.</a></li></ul>It is about to become much more difficult to watch porn online if you're in the UK.From July 15, porn sites <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/porn-age-verification-to-launch-in-uk-on-july-15-2019-4?r=US&amp;IR=T">will need to check that their British viewers are over 18</a>, thanks to the UK government's decision to implement a "porn block."The argument is that it's too easy for children to watch porn online and it's affecting their sexual and mental health - so now anyone who wants to watch porn on the internet will have to prove that they're old enough.There is <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/the-uk-porn-block-is-coming-why-people-think-its-a-bad-idea-2019-3?r=US&amp;IR=T">backlash from critics</a> who say that the ban amounts to censorship, and ultimately that a ban won't have the desired effect. The UK is pressing ahead anyway.The law makes it incumbent on the porn providers to put in place a "robust" age-verification system, or else face having their sites blacked out in the UK. Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/the-uk-porn-block-is-coming-why-people-think-its-a-bad-idea-2019-3?r=US&amp;IR=T">Porn is being age-blocked across all of the UK in July. Here's why people think it's a terrible idea.</a>And how will the ban work in practice? The police won't be knocking on people's houses to snoop through their internet histories.The government has been woolly on the detail, but it has placed the burden of verifying people's ages on porn site operators. The system will be policed by the the British Board of Film Classification, an organisation that has historically decided what films are suitable for particular age groups. It isn't clear how the BBFC will detect sites that don't implement an age-verification system.Now porn sites must come up with a way of verifying people's ages.Various solutions <a href="https://www.wired.co.uk/article/uk-porn-age-verification">have been proposed by multiple companies</a>, but many involve uploading a form of ID, such as a driving license or a credit card.One solution has a particularly analogue feel to it.Its official name is the Portes Card, although it has been popularly dubbed the "porn pass." The idea is that people will be able to go to a shop where the person behind the till will check their ID, and then provide them with a pass which can then be uploaded via an app to give them access to pornographic content without handing over any personal data.Business Insider spoke to Serge Acker, CEO of the company behind Portes, to discover a bit more about how this will work in reality.<h2>Portes' musical roots</h2>OCL, the tech startup which created the Portes Card, was not originally geared around letting over-18s watch porn.Its focus was on the music industry and how to get more money for artists whose work is being used on apps like TikTok and Snapchat. When Acker came onboard, the company was focused on micro-licensing for music."TikTok, Snapchat, all those companies have grown on the ability for their users to create user-generated content, that very often requires the use of third-party content - music typically. And none of that music is really paid for."<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5cb6eb4697953a18ae324332-867/5c7685172628980e48394092.jpeg" border="0" alt="TikTok" data-mce-source="Getty" />GettyTikTok started life as a lip-syncing app.</div></div></div>The music industry itself leant a helping hand in setting up OCL. Indie record label Beggars Group provided the startup with roughly $100,000 in seed money.OCL's microlicensing business is still active, but following the UK government's announcement in 2017 that it would be bringing in the porn block, the company expanded its operations to age-verification. It named this arm of the company Portes."When the UK government brought in the Digital Economy Act, we thought it was an interesting problem to solve because at the time the only game in town in terms of age-verification relied on identity," said Acker.<h2>What will the "porn pass" look like?</h2>The Portes Card won't be a plastic card. Instead it's more of a printable voucher, which works in tandem with Portes' bespoke app.Portes sent Business Insider an image of a prototype.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5cb892a0b8342c15c52a0af7-777/ocl portes voucher prototype.png" border="0" alt="OCL Portes Voucher prototype" data-mce-source="OCL" data-mce-caption="A prototype of the 'porn voucher'" />OCLA prototype of the 'porn voucher'</div></div></div>The process of buying a pass will be a little like paying for your gas bill or mobile top ups at the newsagents.Portes has partnered with two payment companies,PayPoint and ePay, which are collectively installed in around 90,000 retailers. That includes newsagents and major supermarkets such as Tescos - although it is not certain yet which outlets will choose to make the pass available in their shops.Anyone wanting the pass will need to download the Portes app first. This features a barcode, which the retailer will scan. They will then ask for proof of your age and payment. For use on a single device, the pass will cost £4.99 ($6.50), and £8.99 ($11.80) across multiple devices. Once you've paid, you will have a printed voucher with a 16-digit code.That code can then be entered via the Portes app. For use on a laptop or desktop, the user visits the porn site of their choice where they can hit a "Portes" logo, then enter the code, and wait for verification from the app.Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/snapchat-says-its-age-verification-safeguards-are-effectively-useless-2019-3?r=US&amp;IR=T">Snapchat admits its age verification safeguards are effectively useless</a>To prevent under-18s from simply obtaining a code from an older person- a sibling for example - Acker says parents will be able to install the app on their kids' devices and then activate a "lock" it so that any code entered on that device is immediately burned.<h2>The biggest online porn company in the world has partnered with Portes</h2>Portes has also partnered with AgeID, an age-verification company owned by MindGeek, the conglomerate which owns PornHub, YouPorn, and RedTube.AgeID itself will offer a few options to users apart from Portes, including verifying their age via SMS, credit card, passport, or driving licence.As the subsidiary of an umbrella company with a dominant market position in online porn, AgeID has drawn a lot of ire from privacy activists claiming it shouldn't be trusted with reems of personal data. Portes saw this as an opportunity.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5bae50474e353eb0258b456b-2400/shutterstock1025448961.jpg" border="0" alt="Pornhub" data-mce-source="Shutterstock" data-mce-caption="Pornhub, a popular pornography site, is one of the most visited websites in the US." />ShutterstockPornhub, a popular pornography site, is one of the most visited websites in the US.</div></div></div>"AgeID at the time and still now is seen as the 800-pound gorilla, that... because it is the emanation of a porn company it's hard to trust that they will do the right thing," OCL's Acker said. "Whatever you do can never be enough to misspell people's mistrust [namely] the minute you create an account, that creates a point of weakness."He said Portes' pitch gave AgeID the "perfect solution" for giving an option for accessing a website without having to create an account. "For them it's an additional opportunity to prove to people that they're not in this game to collect data," he added.Acker said that Portes' deal with AgeID is not exclusive, so it will be able to partner with other, smaller sites.<h2>Most people still don't know there's a porn ban coming</h2>The UK porn block will kick in on July 15, more than a year later than it was supposed to - it was originally slated for April 2018.Acker says Portes' tech is ready to go, but notifying people about the block will be another challenge entirely. <a href="https://yougov.co.uk/topics/technology/articles-reports/2019/03/18/britains-porn-watchers-likely-be-caught-their-pant">A YouGov poll from March 2019</a> showed 75% of Brits weren't aware that the porn block was on the way.He said that Portes is engaging in a fair amount of online marketing ahead of time. "We're trying to be as guerilla as we can, being a startup," he said. He also said that ideally MindGeek will flash up some information on its various sites warning people ahead of time."Obviously Mindgeek control their user experience, but I think we both recognise the need to get people ready and not be caught out," he said. <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/facial-recognition-technology-regulation-creepy-future-2019-4">Facial recognition is almost perfectly accurate - here's why that could be a problem</a></h3> <div> <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" data-player="jwplayer" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/dUhcuqIL-CEZHWCBG.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><script>function receiveMessage(event){ console.log(event.data.fullscreen); Android.fullscreen(event.data.fullscreen); }window.addEventListener("message", receiveMessage, false);</script> </div> </div>

The UK will age-block porn from July 15. This 'porn pass' is one way you'll be watching it in future.

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="6355101" type="LOCATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Ukraine">Ukraine</keyword>'s intelligence service tricked 32 Russian mercenaries into confessing their roles in the 2014 Donbass war and nearly flying into Ukrainian custody, according to explosive reports reported Tuesday by Ukrainian media.</li><li>The Ukrainians invented a fake security contract and extracted confessions from the mercenaries at the job interview, then put them on a flight that would take them from <keyword id="6358826" type="LOCATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Russia">Russia</keyword> to <keyword id="63113" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Belarus">Belarus</keyword>, then to Ukraine, the reports said.</li><li>However, the plan fell through at the last minute when the Russians were in Belarus, and the Belarusian secret police arrested the mercenaries instead. They have since been <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/belarus-riot-police-lower-shields-alexander-lukashenko-election-protests-2020-8">released back to Russia</a>.</li><li>Insider spoke to five current and former intelligence officials and contractors, who largely called the operation "perfect" despite the last-minute breakdown, and "humiliating" for Putin.</li></ul>The intelligence world is currently roiled by reports that Ukraine's intelligence service had tricked 32 Russian mercenaries accused of war crimes into confessing their jobs and nearly flying to Ukraine by setting up fake job interviews under the guise of a fake security contract.The allegations were <a href="https://meduza.io/en/feature/2020/08/18/ukrainian-intelligence-lured-suspected-russian-mercenaries-to-belarus-journalists-report">first reported</a> in <a href="https://www.pravda.com.ua/rus/news/2020/08/18/7263339/">Ukrainian media</a> on Tuesday evening.The reports claim that the Ukrainian intelligence (SBU) operation was designed to convince dozens of Russian mercenaries who had fought in the 2014 Donbass war, between Russia- and Ukraine-backed fighters, to provide verification of their presence in the region. The entire operation began nearly a year ago, the reports said.To extract the mercenaries' confessions and eventually bring them into custody, the SBU created a fake security contract for them, set up fake job interviews, and readied a flight taking them from Moscow to Minsk, then to Istanbul on July 25, the reports said.The plan was then for the charter flight, secretly arranged by the SBU, to claim a medical or technical emergency while airborne and divert to Kyiv, Ukraine's capital, where the mercenaries would be imprisoned and offered to Russia in a prisoner swap, according to local media.But at the last moment the operation was delayed for unknown reasons, and the Belarusian secret police (KGB) <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/belarus-lukashenko-arrested-33-russian-mercenaries-putin-2020-8">arrested the men in a spa outside Minsk</a>, where they were awaiting their rescheduled flight.Belarus <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/belarus-riot-police-lower-shields-alexander-lukashenko-election-protests-2020-8">quietly deported</a> the 32 mercenaries back to Russia over the weekend. Various political factions in Ukraine are now trading blame for what they say was a leak that rumbled the flight to Kyiv and tipped off Belarus, journalist Christo Grozev tweeted.<blockquote class="twitter-tweet blockquote" data-lang="en" data-cards="" data-conversation="">—Christo Grozev (@christogrozev) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/1295681546016436230?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 18, 2020</a></blockquote>Insider spoke to five current and former intelligence officials and contractors, who called the operation "perfect," and "humiliating" for Russia.All five declined to be named but all their identities are known to Insider.<h2 dir="ltr">'What ... rock stars'</h2>A person who works for a Central European NATO country's counterintelligence service told Insider that despite the plan's last-minute breakdown, "this does not change the intelligence operation element at work here, which was absolutely brilliant."This source works undercover and cannot be identified by the media."The only reason these men are not in the dock in Kyiv right now is that it appears — this has not been properly confirmed — that someone in political leadership got cold feet about letting it proceed to its final destination," the operative said."This will not be lost on Putin or the intelligence officials he's probably going to fire for this. Operationally it was a humiliating defeat for Russian intelligence even if the flight never arrived."An Italian official even called the plan "perfect.""What ... rock stars," a senior Italian law-enforcement official said of the Ukrainian operation."We run small operations like this against [the Sicilian mafia] and [Calabrian] 'ndrangheta to catch fugitives, but to organize it with this level of detail and keep it a secret from the Russian FSB [security services], while working out of Kyiv, which is obviously a priority collection target for the Russians on a normal day ... It's just perfect tradecraft in the most difficult environment."A retired senior official in British intelligence with extensive experience dealing with Russia said the possibility that the operation would be scuttled at the last second makes sense in light of the political or even military ramifications.This person continues to work as a security consultant and asked not to be named in order to speak openly about the matter."I am sure the people who planned and executed this apparently perfect mission are furious with their political leaders for not taking it to its conclusion, but this might be a short sighted view," the veteran said. "The operators did their job perfectly and gave their leadership options," the source continued. "It's not necessarily up to the intelligence services to decide if successfully kidnapping 32 Russian citizens — even if it's legally justified — and infuriating Putin while Russian tanks and troops occupy the eastern part of your nation is the best course.""Here's a strong argument that the confessions and success of the overall operation are enough of a win to warrant not provoking even more bad blood with Putin."<h2 dir="ltr">'This must vex Putin considerably'</h2>So far Ukraine has released three confessions of the mercenaries, which contain levels of detail that all five officials agreed would be nearly impossible to fake.The evidence released so far includes passports, official Russian military documents proving their service and specialties, and even a citation for bravery signed by Putin himself for fighting in Ukraine.<blockquote class="twitter-tweet blockquote" data-lang="en" data-cards="" data-conversation="none">—Марія (@latectonia) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/1295760897395261440?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 18, 2020</a></blockquote>"The Russians know if these are their guys or not, and if it's true," said a Baltic official, who refused to comment further until more details became clear. "My reaction is faking this would require too much effort and there's almost no payoff here unless it's true."The latest incident is only the most recent of a series of aggressive operations by Ukraine. In May 2018, the SBU <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russian-journalist-arkady-babchenko-reported-dead-shows-up-at-press-conference-in-ukraine-2018-5">faked the death</a> of a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/arkady-babchenko-explains-how-he-and-ukraine-sbu-faked-his-own-death-2018-7">Ukranian journalist targeted by Russia in order to expose the Kremlin's assassination network</a>.The operation, which was successful, was noted at the time for the ruthlessness of the SBU in allowing the journalist's believe he was dead for hours as they arrested the would-be assassins."It's really quite the intelligence knife fight between Russia and Ukraine these days and Kyiv must feel pretty good about how well they are performing against a much larger foe," said the Central European source."This must vex Putin considerably considering the resources Russia has poured into controlling Ukraine for centuries," they added. "The government, police, politics, business, all have extensive Russian intelligence influence and compromises, and yet these guys managed to keep such an aggressive and targeted operation a secret anyway.""Bravo."

How Ukraine's audacious secret service successfully scammed Putin and his mercenaries

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="11897491" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="onlyfans" source="Orion">OnlyFans</keyword>, a membership-based platform, was founded in 2016 by British entrepreneur Timothy Stokely.</li><li>It currently has 1.5 million content creators, which include sex workers and celebrities.</li><li>The platform has faced several controversies recently, including their quickly-reversed porn ban.</li></ul>Although it's only been around for the past five years, London-based online platform OnlyFans has quickly become a hugely lucrative website for <a href="https://www.insider.com/onlyfans-sex-workers-escorts-porn-2021-9">sex workers</a>, <a href="https://sports.yahoo.com/influencers-post-nudes-onlyfans-theyll-191430176.html?guccounter=1">influencers</a>, and <a href="https://www.insider.com/blac-chyna-and-celebrities-who-have-made-onlyfans-profiles-2020-5">celebrities</a> looking for new ways to connect with fans.It was founded in November 2016 by British entrepreneur Timothy Stokely. Stokely, who remains the CEO of the organization, was described by The Times as the <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/meet-the-king-of-homemade-porn-a-bankers-son-making-millions-z9vhq9c9s">"king of homemade porn,"</a> previously owning adult performance websites GlamGirls and Customs4U.Due to high-profile names joining the platform, OnlyFans has made headlines and become a staple in popular <keyword id="11899151" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="culture" source="Orion">culture</keyword> in recent years, even receiving a <a href="https://www.insider.com/beyonce-raps-about-demon-time-strippers-on-instagram-live-2020-5">shoutout</a> from Beyoncé in her 2020 remix of Megan Thee Stallion's hit track "Savage." But it has also faced a spate of controversies, including content leaks, allegations of underage creators, and most recently backlash to the platform's decision to ban explicit content, which was quickly <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/onlyfans-reverses-ban-sexually-explicit-content-2021-8">reversed.</a>Here's everything you need to know about the controversial rise of the hugely popular platform. <h2>OnlyFans is a membership-based platform where users can unlock content behind a paywall</h2>OnlyFans allows creators to post a range of exclusive content that their "fans" pay to unlock via a monthly subscription, which the creator can set between $5 and $50 per month. Along with videos and photos, creators can offer services like phone calls, direct message conversations, and group chat access. <div type="image" title="A screen showing the OnlyFans website" height="1126" width="2252" msid="86205887" hostid="261"></div>Customers also have the option to "tip" creators if they especially like their content or want something tailored to them. Subscribers who have been on the site for less than four months are able to tip up to $100 per day, while those who have been on the site longer can tip up to $200 per day. OnlyFans also has a "top creator" system. This means that if creators are considered as being in between the top 10% and top 0.1% of all creators, they will be notified privately by the platform of their individual percentage. According to <a href="https://onlyfans.com/help/3/16/60">OnlyFans' FAQ</a>, the top creator tool is "an informational tool that compares account performance to other OnlyFans creators over the last 30 days." It's commonplace for creators to use their individual percentage and position in this top percentile as a marketing tool for new subscribers.According to <a href="https://onlyfans.com/about">OnlyFans' data</a>, which comes from their own internal team, it has 174 million monthly visits and 5.5 million daily unique visitors. It also boasts 150 million registered users and 1.5 million content creators. OnlyFans takes 20% of creators' revenue, and the platform says pays out a total of $5 billion to creators every year.<h2>OnlyFans has always been popular with sex workers, but it exploded during the pandemic </h2>Between March and April 2020, the beginning of <a href="https://www.insider.com/people-are-creating-onlyfans-accounts-after-losing-jobs-during-pandemic-2020-6">the coronaviru pandemic</a>, OnlyFans saw a 75% month-to-month increase in signups. This amounted to an average of 200,000 users signing up every day. According to <a href="https://s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/document-api-images-live.ch.gov.uk/docs/JBTKPuNDilGlNsbftE6nru1gPTh8frDgmS9Vy2aj5M0/application-pdf?X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&amp;X-Amz-Credential=ASIAWRGBDBV3IT7PFMX7%2F20210909%2Feu-west-2%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&amp;X-Amz-Date=20210909T153359Z&amp;X-Amz-Expires=60&amp;X-Amz-Security-Token=IQoJb3JpZ2luX2VjEHQaCWV1LXdlc3QtMiJIMEYCIQCpWv1KXCTeHCMNDSZniTAiuknwcgYFy%2FXRmLUlEeJT9gIhAJUM%2FNQAt8IHpIMmJj2ZSbCok8AViYbTA%2F4KHSlfS0XUKoMECL3%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2FwEQAxoMNDQ5MjI5MDMyODIyIgzTilgvxQjVVIYq9qgq1wNY%2BEXPsDE3Cd2FNH%2B2XmzySIl2P3gGKIOXXJfCW%2BhIIudZSmnkBZGYDWMKfKv1zhe7rU95ROkviYavx%2BWaqJYDhAwY492x59kU5liqEC%2B0exQM%2BfNCRKQl4HmECdGbG9UI7%2FE%2FE24n4wk9mda9sxbyGWUTL7ttABsk3xWIMZ54mWJAzYWFuqeSbueTB0iK%2FjZLkaXJ61RFdCpBa%2BHfJh%2BwCBaU1QtAHlGTkU7LwfxzE9IUdpHgYEIs9A%2Fk60X1Gh9C4Q6AkEpfE%2BsZMWRXUBg2Ih9ErcJ66PIcg5Suqc7p6RMrgTAtX7roiw2x%2FRlaJQmfNvdG2AZPagiEzEYicdOgD3II9Qg8xmavcwarGOT%2BZNI3As0ot2iWUvAbdds%2Fx1r5gOYvh4mvQU88DitLUjekb4pvCPnfMvZ4LeuvmxYT5nUuzgctUU8i%2F50vcdAekHmI9CpADmsDyMHrEvVP6fRUtkXZVriKFzklsVavjWV4B4AMnGoc5idmRuprpMsSh6FSNubRWdecD9OCSw5Z8PC9WCahSk4eOFwkTMV5kbPtZ7seAnsRQ%2FDQB9nT2gTHHjXAy5N6uS1XvyAvct7BogKYc6YfIfiIbTcEq3S4HXhcBsLrSBYt7j0wjefniQY6pAGaQbY3FiKNqrhnqBd97hnzkZzgIvrNnv9iGGMNFsqAhcLjnOlpMqSq5N5YbWNEc5KUbmpQ1DBvUgamjXNf7RRc2Cj6YS6K2KAob0nV4o0VOl96HLiwde7bnoD5U1nmxb2kY3X%2Fw406PUxdU1CmwX6sQUuq6ZQ%2B%2FmwatsTQxKMJVbLxJB3w920WTwii3GiGecyN3EHBtrKVQTMTZRFwJAu9AhwWpg%3D%3D&amp;X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&amp;response-content-disposition=inline%3Bfilename%3D%22companies_house_document.pdf%22&amp;X-Amz-Signature=cc207d6d4521caf43f5fb49bfa034b5a6f9e1455953218f023141b4107829d121455953218f023141b4107829d12">its financial report,</a> OnlyFans ended the fiscal year of 2020 with more than 1.6 million creators on its platform, up from 384,000 the year before.The report also said 82.3 million users had signed up compared to 13.5 million a year before. <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/6d4562f8-166f-4a89-a3cb-db97123a6cf0">The Financial Times</a> reported that OnlyFans' transactions were up by 553% in 2020, increasing seven-fold to $2.4 billion.<h2>Several celebrities use the platform, which has sparked controversy</h2>Countless <a href="https://www.insider.com/blac-chyna-and-celebrities-who-have-made-onlyfans-profiles-2020-5">celebrities and influencers</a> have also jumped on the OnlyFans trend, with Cardi B, Blac Chyna, Tyler Posey, and Tana Mongeau among those sharing exclusive, and sometimes explicit content with fans.According to <a href="https://variety.com/2021/digital/news/bhad-bhabie-breaks-onlyfans-record-1-million-six-hours-1234943096/">Variety</a>, the creator who holds the record for making $1 million on the platform in the shortest amount of time is rapper <keyword id="12095024" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="bhad-bhabie" source="Orion">Bhad Bhabie</keyword> who earned $1 million in just six hours. OnlyFans later confirmed the figure to <a href="https://www.dailydot.com/unclick/bhad-bhabie-onlyfans/">The Daily Dot</a>. Bhad Bhabie, whose real name is Danielle Bregoli, has been in the public eye since she was 13 years old after going viral following her appearance on "Dr Phil."<div type="image" title="bhad bhabie rehab drugs" height="512" width="1024" msid="86205888" hostid="261"></div>Bregoli made an account shortly after turning 18. <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/bhad-babie-onlyfans-danielle-bregoli-minimum-age-1152696/">Rolling Stone</a> reported how some social media users were "distressed" that so many fans were "counting down for Bhad Bhabie to come of legal age." The record was previously held by former Disney star <keyword id="11910983" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="bella-thorne" source="Orion">Bella Thorne</keyword> who, upon joining OnlyFans, <a href="https://variety.com/2020/digital/news/bella-thorne-breaks-onlyfans-record-1-million-24-hours-1234749127/">made $1 million in 24 hours</a>. Veteran sex workers on the platform quickly accused Thorne of "gentrifying" OnlyFans, with many<a href="https://www.insider.com/onlyfans-creators-call-on-bella-thorne-share-the-money-earned-2020-8"> calling on her to redistribute the wealth she quickly accrued </a>on the platform. "A millionaire making more millions during a pandemic while others starve, isn't the feel good story anyone is looking for," Castle B Productions, a sex worker and adult industry photographer, told Insider in an email at the time. Shortly after the controversy, the platform imposed limits on how much users can tip and how much creators can charge, leading many creators, including sex workers, to express concern that their income would be affected. OnlyFans <a href="https://www.insider.com/onlyfans-limit-tips-after-bella-thorne-earned-1m-2020-8">told Insider at the time</a> that the decision was unrelated to Thorne's success.<h2>Concerns have also been raised about the platform's ability to keep children off the platform</h2>In May, <a style="font-size: 15px;" href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-57255983">BBC News reported</a> that a number of underage users sold and appeared in explicit videos on the platform, with one 14-year-old bypassing the site's age verification measures by using her grandmother's passport to create an account which she then used to share explicit images, according to Hertfordshire Police. The BBC also obtained extracts from Childline counselor notes which reportedly included one girl who said she accessed the site when she was 13. A <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-58255865">further investigation by the BBC</a> last month found that, according to leaked documents and interviews with OnlyFans moderators, some accounts are not automatically shut down if they are found to share illegal content, with moderators allowed to give multiple warnings to accounts before shutting them down. While the BBC did not clarify what was meant by "illegal content," guidance from the Crown Prosecution Service explains that it is illegal in the UK to distribute, make or possess <a href="https://www.cps.gov.uk/legal-guidance/indecent-and-prohibited-images-children">child pornography</a>, <a href="https://www.cps.gov.uk/crime-info/cyber-online-crime">"revenge porn"</a> (pornography involving a partner who does not consent to the footage being filmed or distributed,) and <a href="https://www.cps.gov.uk/legal-guidance/extreme-pornography">"extreme porn,</a>" which includes acts involving extreme violence, animals, sexual assault, or dead bodies.<h2>There is also an ongoing concern about OnlyFans subscribers leaking content from creators online</h2><div type="image" title="Computer hacker silhouette" height="512" width="1024" msid="86205892" hostid="261"></div>In March 2020, between 1.4 and 4 terabytes of OnlyFans content was taken from behind the site's paywall and shared on Mega, a cloud storage site. A spokesperson for OnlyFans at the time <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ryanhatesthis/terabytes-of-stolen-adult-content-from-onlyfans-have-leaked">told</a> BuzzFeed News that the content was compiled by several individual users who had access to paywalled content as opposed to any external hack or security breach on the site. According to cloud storage service <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/en_GB/features/cloud-storage/how-much-is-1tb#:~:text=1%20TB%20gives%20you%20the,Office%20files%2C%20PDFs%20and%20presentations.">Dropbox, </a>1 terabyte can store approximately 500 hours of HD video content, suggesting the leaked OnlyFans content could have included between 700 and 2,000 hours of video content. <a href="https://www.insider.com/onlyfans-porn-leak-has-serious-safety-implications-say-creators-2020-3">Speaking to Insider</a> at the time, OnlyFans creator OsaLovely said the leak was a concern not only because it impacted sex workers' ability to make money, but also because it compromised their safety. OnlyFans has some measures in place to stop this from happening - if you try and screenshot exclusive content on an iPhone on Android device, for example, it will only show a black screen rather than letting you try and save the picture. But subscribers are continuing to find ways around this, with Insider finding several Twitter accounts and <a href="https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/reddit-onlyfans-leak-sites">Reddit threads</a> dedicated to sharing and distributing OnlyFans content.<h2>OnlyFans made headlines when it banned 'explicit content' </h2>On August 19, OnlyFans announced a highly controversial <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/onlyfans-to-block-sexually-explicit-nsfw-content-starting-in-october-2021-8?r=US&amp;IR=TIR=T">ban on explicit content </a>on the platform. At the time, the platform said the ban was in order to "comply with the requests of our banking partners and payout providers." While sexually explicit content would have no longer be allowed, users would still have been permitted to post nude videos and photos provided they didn't violate OnlyFans' <a href="https://onlyfans.com/terms">acceptable use policy</a>.Stokely said in an interview with <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/7b8ce71c-a87a-440e-9f3d-58069ca0480b">The Financial Times</a> that they made the decision in order to "safeguard [users'] funds and subscriptions from increasingly unfair actions by banks and media companies,"This decision received extreme backlash on social media, with sex workers, celebrities, and advocacy groups<a href="https://www.theverge.com/2021/8/23/22638310/onlyfans-ban-explicit-content-payment-processing-visa"> criticizing the move.</a>Speaking to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/onlyfans-porn-ban-sex-workers-creators-statement-2021-8">Insider,</a> OnlyFans creator Chelsea Lynn said, "Sex work built OnlyFans, and now it feels like they're turning their back on us."Meanwhile, in a statement to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/aug/20/onlyfans-ban-porn-sexually-explicit-content-risk-lives-sex-workers">The Guardian</a> at the time, Mary Moody, an online sex worker and co-chair of the Adult Industry Laborers and Artists Association said that the change would "force workers currently working remotely online into riskier street-based sex work." <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/onlyfans-reverses-ban-sexually-explicit-content-2021-8?r=US&amp;IR=TIR=T">The policy was reversed</a> six days later, with OnlyFans thanking users for "making [their] voices heard" and saying in a statement that they will continue to provide a home for all creators." <a href="https://www.insider.com/culture">For more stories like this, check out coverage from Insider's Digital Culture team here.</a>

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