Men’s adult lifestyle website HarrietSugarcookie.com is shining a spotlight on a new UK law set to go into effect this summer, potentially restricting access to over four million adult websites worldwide.
“This year, the UK is set to become the first democratic country to introduce a Chinese-style Internet censor,” says guest columnist Jerry Barnett, technologist, activist and author of Porn Panic!, of the new law. “This is (or at least, should be) a big deal.”
In the new article Censorship: A UK Law is about to Block 4 Million Websites, Barnett explains the Digital Economy Bill, which will force adult sites to add age verification check systems as well as ban ‘unusual sexual practices’ and/or ‘extreme porn’.
“While focus has been on the ‘extreme adult content’ part, the bit about age checking is actually far more dangerous, as it will result in literally millions of websites being blocked in the UK,” writes Barnett in the post.
“The government’s ‘solution’ to the problem is to create a censorship body with the power to block websites,” adds Barnett, who founded the site SexandCensorship.org to educate and empower citizens to exercise their rights to defend free expression in the country.
“This requires owners of websites to verify that visitors are over 18 before they can view any sexual images at all… for most websites, except for the very biggest commercial players, this will be so difficult and expensive as to be effectively impossible.”
“This new law will probably be in breach of EU law that protects net neutrality,” writes Barnett, “but in their infinite wisdom, the British people have decided to leave the EU, and in the process, abandon these protections of their human rights.”
Adult star Harriet Sugarcookie’s award-winning online destination – currently the U.K’s most-visited adult site with over 300,000 monthly visitors – will still be available to hardcore fans across the globe, albeit with registered membership to the site.
HarrietSugarcookie.com is currently safe-for-work to use for non-members, offering its usual features: advice columns, celebrity gossip, informative articles and favorite recipes to fully engage and entertain fans in an atmosphere created uniquely by Sugarcookie herself.
Visit Harriet Sugarcookie on her NEW FACEBOOK PAGE – Facebook.com/SugarcookieMag – follow her on Twitter (@HSugarCookie) and Instagram (@harrietsugarcookie).
