Internet users who don’t use Tor or VPNs and are worried about the UK’s impending smut block interrupting their viewing habits have been offered another simple way to satisfy their urges – Porn by Email.
The ingenious idea represents a two-fingered salute to the British government’s decision to require all websites hosting adult content to set up age-check gateways to ensure that anyone looking at the stuff online is over 18.
However, as The Register notes,
The controversial measures … have been derided as an example of the nanny state and a threat to freedoms of expression.
Other criticisms include that it will encourage unsafe online behavior by priming people to part with personal details on unverified sites, and that it risks creating databases of people’s porn preferences – ideal, and damaging, targets for hackers.
Plus, because of VPNs, the system will never ever work.
Sunday we posted a story about one proposed solution designed to allow Uk resident adults to visit over-18 websites anonymously: a ‘Porn Pass’ that could be purchased at news shops and corner markets.
However, there is a possible “workaround” being developed for British porn consumers.
A company called PornByEmail is offering a porn delivery service: send an email with the subject “preference” followed by a performer’s name and get a supply of matching porn.
As The Register reports,
Users don’t need to supply any personally identifiable information to sign up (no reason not to set up a fresh email account for your porn), and the service runs autonomously, with the software searching a database for images with metadata that match the query and sending back the results.
It was set up by self-described internet troublemaker Gareth Llewellyn who said the aim was to make a point about internet censorship and oppose government measures to do that.
But he added that the software is under an open-source licence, so once it is finished anyone can use it on their own email address or domain for just their content, giving performers a way to “publish” material without being shut down.
That’s because although the regulator, the British Board of Film Classification, can require that internet service providers block websites that don’t comply with the age-verification rules, it has no power to compel ancillary service providers – which also includes social media sites – to cut off services to porn providers.
Among those who might take wish to advantage of the open source software to create their own customized Porn by Email delivery services, AVN notes, are entrepreneurial porn performers.
