Misty Media Sex Blog

October 21st 2005, 15:20 Jeff Sela

Apparently a company called Metacharge is to offer a new age verification service, which will allow website operators to verify that customers are at least 18 years of age. It will also check that they are actually alive, to protect against people stealing the identities of dead people.

The system is targeted at online gambling sites, which with a recent change in the law will soon be able to operate websites from within the UK. They will still have the responsibility though to make sure that their customers are old enough to be allowed to place bets.

This could turn out to be a useful piece of ammunition for campaigners seeking to relax the laws on selling hardcore pornography in the UK. Currently, all films containing explicit ‘real’ sex—unless the BBFC can be convinced that it's for the sake of ‘art’ rather than titillation—are given an R18 classification, and can only be sold over the counter in licensed sex shops. With age verification systems like this available, perhaps the government could be convinced to allow sales of R18 videos by mail order, if the customer is proven to be over 18. I know, it seems unlikely, but we can hope.