Adult World News

A new survey of 1,469 adults, which was conducted by the child protection focused Lucy Faithfull Foundation, has noted that 45% of adults who dont want to verify their identities to access porn have turned to using sites without age checks. In addition, 29% have used Virtual Private Networks to bypass age checks on sites that have them.

Kerry Smith, CEO of the Foundation, said:

Its highly concerning that age verification measures are not being implemented on certain platforms. Safeguards on pornography sites are essential to protect children from accessing pornography, which we know, if viewed at a young age, can normalise harmful sexual behaviours and leave children more vulnerable to grooming from predators.

There needs to be strong enforcement of the Online Safety Act to ensure robust and meaningful safety measures are put in place on pornography platforms, including the use of deterrence messaging and signposting for adults to appropriate support services.

We would also encourage the government to bring in even more robust legislation, so online pornography is treated just as it is in the offline world.

An Ofcom spokesperson said

Change is happening, and the tide on online safety is beginning to turn for the better. Last year saw important changes for people, with new measures across many sites and apps now better protecting UK users from harmful content, particularly children. But we need to see much more from tech companies this year, and well use our full powers if they fall short.

Ofcom does have the power to impose significant financial fines, although there remains a question mark as to how much impact this will have on non-UK based sites. The regulator could also ask broadband ISPs and mobile operators to block the sites at network-level, although this would have little impact on VPN users.

Overall, its hardly surprising or controversial that many adults do not want to have to share their private personal or financial details with unknown and unregulated third-party age verification providers, particularly when those services are associated with porn peddlers. The infamous Ashley Madison hack showed just how dangerous such information could be in the wrong hands (countless cases of blackmail and suicide etc.).

Pornhub writes:

Overview.

A recent cybersecurity incident involving data from a third-party data analytics service provider has impacted some Pornhub Premium users. Specifically, this situation affects only select Premium users. It is important to note this was not a breach of Pornhub Premium's systems. Passwords, payment details, and financial information remain secure and were not exposed.

What Happened.

We recently learned that an unauthorized party gained unauthorized access to analytics data stored with Mixpanel, a third-party data analytics service provider. The unauthorized party was able to use this unauthorized access to extract a limited set of analytics events for some users. This was not a breach of Pornhub Premium's systems. No passwords, credentials, payment details or government IDs were compromised or exposed and we have since secured the affected account and stopped the unauthorized access.

Potential User Contact. We are aware that the individuals responsible for this incident have threatened to contact impacted Pornhub Premium users directly. You may therefore receive emails claiming they have your personal information. As a reminder, we will never ask for your password or payment information by email.

What We Are Doing.

Upon becoming aware of this event, we immediately launched a comprehensive internal investigation with the support of our cybersecurity experts. We have engaged with relevant authorities and with Mixpanel so that we can provide you with facts. We are working diligently to determine the nature and scope of the reported incident.

What You Can Do.

While our investigation is ongoing, we encourage all users to remain vigilant by monitoring their accounts for any suspicious emails or unusual activity.