France will become the first country to introduce a “digital certificate” for anyone seeking online pornography to prove they are not underage, the French government said yesterday.
People wanting to visit pornography websites will have to install a government application on their mobile phones proving they are at least 18 as part of the plan announced by Jean-Noel Barrot, France’s digital minister.
Websites that do not comply with the order risk being banned in France.
The certification process will remain anonymous and be enforced by September this year, the French government said.
While children are banned from accessing porn in France, current laws only oblige people to click on a button indicating they are over 18, with no other checks on whether they are adults.
The lack of other oversight is a factor behind children accessing online porn for the first time at an average age of 11, according to French studies.
“I mean to end this scandal. I intend to have this law respected once and for all,” Mr Barrot told Le Parisien.
“[Porn sites] will have to comply with it or risk seeing distribution prohibited nationwide,” he added.
“[This year] will see the end of access to pornographic sites for our children.”
The new age verification system, he said, “will work a bit like the verification requested by your bank when you make an online purchase”.
“France will become the first country in the world to offer a solution like this,” he said.
According to Le Parisien, telecoms operators may be asked to validate that a user is an adult, apparently by sending a verification to a mobile device whose number is linked to an individual.
Web users in the American state of Louisiana have had to upload digital ID proving they are 18 or older to access a site that contains at least 33pc adult content since January 1.
