Daniel Pryor, Head of Research at the Adam Smith Institute, responded to news that the Government is extending age verification provisions in the Online Safety Bill to all commercial pornography sites
"The Government seems determined to shaft civil liberties in its misguided crusade against pornography. Age verification is easily circumvented by any tech-savvy teen with a VPN. Adults would be forced to enter personal information like passport or credit card details-a gift to scammers-and would be left at greater risk of being caught with their pants down in the event of a data breach.
The government should focus on weeding out illegal content online instead of punishing law-abiding Brits. Campaigners have beaten off the porn laws before and they'll do so again."
The Adam Smith Institute's Repeal the Porn Laws campaign sets out broader objections to the new proposals.
Notes to editors:
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The Adam Smith Institute is a free market, neoliberal think tank based in London. It advocates classically liberal public policies to create a richer, freer world.
World-leading measures to protect children from accessing pornography online