Porn sites: are age checks the best way to protect children?

Regulator calls for law to be changed to protect children from seeing adult material on the internet

Internet piracy

TENS of thousands of children are watching hardcore pornography on the internet, according to a new survey. Atvod, the online video watchdog, studied the web habits of 45,000 households and found that adult websites were accessed by three per cent of primary school children.

The regulator has called for a change in law to protect children from seeing adult material on the internet, which would involve credit and debit card companies withdrawing their facilities from websites that fail to carry out effective age checks. The government has said it will consider the request, but some critics say this is not the answer.

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