End well, this won't: UK commissioner suggests govt stops kids from using VPNs

Summary

England's children's commissioner has urged the government to shut down one of the most obvious loopholes in its new age-blocking regime: kids firing up a VPN. UK govt dept website that campaigns against encryption hijacked to advertise ... payday loans READ MORE In a report published today [PDF], Dame Rachel de Souza said ministers should force VPN providers to build in "highly effective age assurance" to stop under-18s from dodging the Online Safety Act's restrictions. Without action, she warned, the government's long-awaited age verification rules risk being rendered "inadequate." The only way to do it is badly Her office's survey of 16- to 21-year-olds makes grim reading for lawmakers hoping the new regime would be watertight. The survey found that more young people said they had been exposed to pornography before the age of 18 than in 2023, when the Online Safety Act came into force. More than a quarter said that they’d first seen porn by age 11, while seven in ten had viewed it before hitting 18. The report comes less than a month after the UK switched on mandatory age checks for commercial porn sites. Since July 25, operators have been required to keep out under-18s or face fines of up to £18 million, or 10 percent of global turnover. Watchdog Ofcom has already opened investigations into 34 high-traffic adult platforms serving millions of UK users. Early signs suggest that the clampdown is already showing results. Web bean-counter Similarweb reported that Pornhub saw a 47 per cent drop in British traffic after the law came into force, falling from 3.2 million in July to 2 million in the first nine days of August. But the banhammer has also driven a surge in VPN use, giving children and adults alike a way around the new digital fences. That puts VPNs firmly in the commissioner's sights. De Souza wants the government to explore technical solutions with providers to make sure the tools aren't being used to evade checks. "This could be achieved by amending the On...