The French executive is accelerating on access to pornographic sites for minors. A device aimed at limiting the consultation of explicit content to adults only will be presented this week, announces the Minister in charge of Digital, Jean-Noël Barrot, at the Parisian.
An app to install?
In the coming days, the National Commission for Computing and Liberties (Cnil) and the Regulatory Authority for Audiovisual and Digital Communication (Arcom) will announce the new system prepared since “months” in consultation with Jean-Noël Barrot and Charlotte Caubel, Secretary of State for Children. Pornographic sites will be obliged to check the age of their visitors in France. Tools developed by specialized companies, in collaboration with the government, should see the light of day in the coming months. Technically, the verification could be done directly from an app to be installed on your smartphone.
“The user of a pornographic site, when he wishes to access it, must certify his majority by clicking on this digital certificate. It will work a bit like the control requested by your bank when you make an online purchase, except that this certificate of majority will be anonymous”, explains Jean-Noël Barrot. Telecom operators, who have the age of their customers, could be an integral part of this new system, say our colleagues.
A generalizable device
The structure of the device thus based on trusted third parties will allow the Internet user to avoid sending his data directly to the pornographic site. It should be put in place quite late, during the year 2024, according to information from BFM TV.
If the platforms do not play the game, they could see their “dissemination prohibited on national territory”. In other words, their access could simply be cut off. “I intend to uphold the law once and for all. In 2023, it’s the end of access to pornographic sites for our children!”promises the minister to our colleagues.
The system could be generalized in the coming years to other categories of sites depending on the first feedback. “I’m thinking for example of alcohol sales sites, where you only have to declare your date of birth to buy; or social networks, on which a young person can only register from the age of 13 with the express agreement of his parents”says Jean-Noël Barrot.
