A laudable intention with a more delicate implementation. The bill to secure and regulate the digital space (Sren) was definitively adopted on Wednesday April 10 by the Assembly. In particular, it plans to restrict the accessibility of pornographic sites to minors.
The Audiovisual and Digital Communication Regulatory Authority (Arcom) receives new power to administratively block platforms that do not correctly verify age, without going through a judge as is currently the case. But adult sites have been criticizing for years the absence of a “technical reference”, a standard way for the entire industry to ensure the majority of Internet users.
Before the promulgation of the SREN law, Arcom therefore submitted this Thursday a draft technical reference system for public consultation. Objective: to collect proposals for suitable technological filtering solutions by May 13, that is to say, both reliable and respectful of privacy.
While waiting for this tool, the authority plans to test for six months a temporary solution revealed by the site l'Informed: prove your majority by providing your bank card before entering the site. “Filtering can be carried out either in the form of payment of 0 euros, or by simple authentication (without payment)”, specifies the text.
A six-month test
The schedule for the experiment appears to be in place. CB filtering would begin in June and the sites concerned would have a fairly standard compliance period of three to six months. It is the scope of application that is the problem. To comply with European legislation, article 2 of the SREN law specifies that filtering “applies to publishers of online public communication services and providers of established video sharing platform services in France or outside the European Union.
Except that the main “hits”, the free and popular platforms, have elected at least one tax domicile there. Examples include the sites YouPorn and Pornhub and Xhamster in Cyprus, Xvideos and Xnxx in the Czech Republic and Tukif in Portugal.
To apply this temporary filtering solution, the authority must request it from its local counterpart with a response time of three months. And will depend on his goodwill and his dynamism. Problem: the test is planned “for a transitional period of six months from the publication of this framework”, intended to allow the services subject to identify and implement an age verification solution and operated by “ a third party independent of the service” which will also have to be found.
A more durable filtering solution that respects double anonymity – neither the site nor the identity verifier has access to your personal data and the content consulted – could appear on all pornographic sites. But “not before the beginning of 2025” estimates a potential supplier of an age verification solution. However, there is urgency.