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Digital Economy Bill [HL]

The Committee will be pleased to know that this is the last in the line and refers to an age verification scheme for certain defined online pornographic material access to which could otherwise be harmful to children. I believe that the amendment is necessary because the current regulatory regime under the Communications Act relating to video on demand services operating from the UK is insufficient to protect children from harm. The Video Recordings Act ensures that in the physical world the supply of R18 hardcore pornography is limited to licensed sex shops. We must not forget that that is all behind very definitely closed doors when in the real world, as it were. Children are not permitted to even enter, let alone purchase products from these stores. Mail-order supplies of R18 DVDs are prohibited in this country. These restrictions are in place because as a society we believe that children should not have access to such material. In contrast in the online world there is no such restriction, even for UK-based hardcore pornography. Indeed, service providers are free to provide such pornographic content without any access controls to prevent viewing by children. The Communications Act only requires service providers to place content behind access controls such as credit card payment or checks against the electoral roll, if the material, "““might seriously impair the physical, mental or moral development of persons under the age of eighteen””." I have already referred to some research that has been done, which seems to indicate that viewing such material has an effect on youngsters growing up. Ofcom, which currently regulates video on demand services and ATVOD—the Association for Television On-Demand—which is expected to regulate this area in the near future, have both concluded that material classified by the BBFC in any category including R18 would not be considered likely to ““seriously impair”” children. This interpretation of the Act means that the new online regulated environment is sufficiently robust to protect children from potentially harmful content, particularly hardcore pornography and material which would be rejected under the Video Recordings Act in the physical world. The amendment would ensure that the current regulations would be strengthened to provide protection for children from R18 and R18-equivalent content in regulated video on demand services. The amendment would require additional regulations which clearly and specifically target R18 and R18-equivalent material and place it behind access controls, coupled with an outright prohibition on content which goes beyond that which would be classified by the BBFC in any category. I hope that the Government will carefully consider this amendment which will ensure a more consistent regulatory approach to the online and physical world to protect children from harmful content. I beg to move.