By Graham Vanbergen – The Digital Economy Bill 2016–17
is a bill of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It is substantially
different from, and shorter than, the Digital Economy Act 2010, whose
provisions largely ended up not being passed into law. The bill
addresses policy issues related to electronic communications
infrastructure and services, and updates the conditions for and
sentencing of criminal copyright infringement.
One part of the Act that gained considerable column inches in the
press was the regulation of online pornography to the current regulator
of pornographic DVDs, overseen by the British Board of Film
Classification (BBFC). The organisation did not actually have a
definitive list of sexual acts which it censored or banned but issued
guidelines of interpretative principles.
The new bill will apply not only to footage filmed in the UK, but it
would also stop British viewers viewing any websites from anywhere
in the world which contain any of the listed acts prescribed by
government. Access to porn will also require age verification to be
confirmed by the user.
At this point many of you may agree that porn has gone too far (in
terms of accessibility) as a direct result of the internet and therefore
needs active, up to date legislation. See list of prohibited acts HERE
