Terrible is the story of those almost-children who, during a New Year's Eve party organised with spirits, drugs and condoms in a villa in the Florentine region, abused two of their peers - both 12 years old - filming the abuse as a ritual and sharing the videos via chat. Accidentally discovered by the mother of one of them, who did not hesitate to report the affair to the Postal Police, the affair would see nine of the seventeen children who attended the party under investigation.
The consumption of online pornography from an early age is a real emergency because it imposes models of violent sexuality that minors replicate as on a set -video footage is a compulsory complement- devastating not only the rape victims but also the abusing children themselves whose free sexual development is permanently impairedas reported by the young star and tadmired by many of his peers. (other texts on the subject can be found at here)
Girls and boys are the subject of real grooming by the pornography industry.
As you will see -we anticipated it here- several US states have already passed Age Verification Laws - laws that introduce mandatory age verification devices to access sites porn-.
This is also being discussed in Europe and the UK, where a law is expected to be passed soon.
In Italy, the issue has not yet been put on the political agenda.
USA
On 1 July the Virginia passed a law to verify the age of those accessing online porn. A similar law was already in force in Louisiana. Access will only be allowed after showing their digital ID. The responsibility for enforcing the new rules falls on sites that disseminate pornography.
La Free Speech Coalition is mobilising against the change in the law and is considering legal action. They have also raised privacy and security concerns. L'Electronic Frontier Foundation he stated: "Once information is shared to verify age, there is no way for a website visitor to be sure that the data they are handing over will not be stored and used by the website, or further shared or even sold'.
Following the passing of the law, the site Pornhub blocked Virginia users in protest, claiming that traffic will decrease by 80% permanently if the rules are implemented while the 'irresponsible' and more easily accessible 'platforms' that break the rules will gain users.
Meanwhile in April, theArkansas followed Utah and Mississippi in restricting children's use of social media: Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed the legislation which obliges minors to obtain the parental permission before creating an account on many online platforms.
Another dozen states, including California, are discussing regulations requiring users to confirm their age before gaining access. There remains the problem of how to control the many websites of companies operating outside the United States.
UK
The Online Safety Act of the United Kingdom could be approved soon to come into force in 2024. The new rule will force all platforms hosting pornographic material and operating in the UK to take 'effective measures' to ensure that viewers are over the age of 18. The bill states that technology managers will be held 'personally responsible' for the safety of children.
Biometrics - both voice and facial- could constitute one of the main control devices. Also here privacy concerns. Monica Horten, Freedom of Expression Policy Officer at Open Rights Group, declared to BBC News that the processing of the collection of large pools of children's biometric data by private companies should worry parents. But the bill seems to enjoy the support of the majority of Britons. A poll by the TV channel GB News found that the 78% of the British public supports the idea of using age verification systems.
EUROPE
Also Germany, Spain, France and Belgium are considering regulations blocking minors' access to online porn. In particular the France, where the new rule should come into force within the year, A real tug-of-war between the government and the digital hardcore giants has been going on for months. A child protection law has already been in force since 2020, with the introduction of a self-certification button which turned out to be easily circumventedLast May, an Arcom report -the public authority regulating audiovisual and digital communication- certified that one third of French minors surf on hardcore sites at least once a month starting at the age of 10-11. The device is therefore not enough and consideration is being given to a identity certification via an external platform before accessing the sites. Another hypothesis is the insertion of a credit card, which in France cannot be issued to minors under the age of 16. Also in France, the porn business goes online talking about the right to anonymity. For its part the French government calls on other European countries for coordinated action to strengthen child protection initiatives.
Marina Terragni
