UK Regulator Cites 3 Companies for Lax Age Verification Policies

UNITED KINGDOM—UK VOD regulator ATVOD this week issued an announcement concerning its determination that “three ‘adult’ video on demand services had breached statutory rules requiring video on demand providers to ensure that under-18s cannot normally access hardcore pornographic content.” The regulator did add that its actions against the three entities—online video on demand services Studio66 TV, G Spot Productions and Abused Piggy—have “resulted in each service taking rapid  steps to bring to an end the breaches,” with one reportedly shuttering. However it also noted that its findings against the three services, which combined operate a total of 11 websites, “bring to 17 the number of adult services successfully challenged by the regulator over the last 18 months. All of them were operating in breach of a statutory rule which requires that material which might seriously impair under-18’s can only be made available if access is blocked to children.” Not all allowed unrestricted access, to be sure. The Abused Piggy service, for instance, was reportedly committed only “one breach of the statutory rules. Although the full catalogue of material could only be viewed by adults, the service also offered unrestricted, free-to-view access to a sample video featuring real sex in explicit detail, and to still images featuring real sex in explicit detail and strong fetish material. As a result of ATVOD’s action, the service closed.” Studio66 TV also reportedly committed one breach by providing “unrestricted access to hard-core pornographic material… to any visitor who paid a fee.” According to ATVOD, the issue is with the site’s payment options. “As the service accepted payment methods – such as debit cards – which can be used by under 18’s, ATVOD ruled that the service had failed to put in place effective access controls in relation to the explicit pornographic material. As a result of ATVOD’s action, the service provider restricted access to explicit hard-core material to persons able to provide evidence that they are over 18, for example by presenting a valid credit card.” The last company, G Spot Productions, reportedly broke the rules in two ways, by allowing access via payment options similar to Studio66 TV, and also by allowing “any visitor free, unrestricted access to hard-core pornographic video promos/trailers and still images featuring real sex in explicit detail.” ATVOD said that as a result of its actions only one of the services, Abused Piggy, was closed. It added, “The determinations are the latest outcomes from a continuing series of pro-active investigations into adult video on demand services conducted by ATVOD over the past 18 months. Such investigations have resulted in significant financial penalties in some cases: Playboy TV UK/Benelux Ltd was fined £100,000 in January 2013 for ‘serious, repeated and reckless’ breaches of the ATVOD Rules.” Last year, as AVN reported at the time, Jerry Barnett, the managing director of U.K. adult VOD provider Strictly Broadband Ltd. and chairman of AITA, the UK’s adult industry trade association, wrote a letter to ATVOD protesting the statutory rule enforced this week, Rule 11: Harmful Material: Protection of Under-18s,