“Blockade of porn” on the Internet already in the Sejm. Who will be able to activate it? The minister of translation

We have been hearing about work on a bill that would limit the exposure of the youngest Internet users to pornographic content for many years. So far, all attempts to introduce a “porn blocker” have ended in a fiasco, e.g. due to concerns about government interference with users’ privacy. Now, however, that is about to change.

At the end of April, the government adopted a draft law on the protection of minors against access to inappropriate content on the Internet. The rules assume that ISPs will be required to introduce a free mechanism to block access to pornographic content online. – In recent years, there has been a long discussion about how to protect minors from inappropriate content online. We are talking about pornographic content here, the creation of mechanisms in which parents could make decisions about appropriate protection in this area – explained the government spokesman Piotr Muller in April. He also reassured that the bill adopted by the government assumes that this type of blockade will be voluntary for parents, “who would like to protect their children from inappropriate content”. – In many countries such solutions have been introduced, we are joining these countries – he said.

The law on blocking online pornography is already in the Sejm. It will come into force on September 1

This week, the bill on the “porn block” was submitted to the Sejm. If it is approved by the lower and upper chambers of the Polish parliament, and President Andrzej Duda signs it, the regulations imposing a number of new obligations on internet providers will come into force from September 1. As a result, there has been a lot of doubt as to what the Act really aims to do. There is also no shortage of comments on the web that suggest that the actions taken by the government may significantly affect the privacy and freedom of web users – including adults. There were also questions about who would have it access to a register of users who have opted to block pornographic content.

“Porn blocker” on the internet. The Minister of Digitization translates

The Minister of Digitization himself referred to the doubts in his Twitter post. Janusz Cieszyński pointed out that “blocking access to adult content will NOT be enabled by default”. Operators will be able to encourage users to activate it, as well as advertise the service, but their role ends there. Thus, there will be no situation in which the subscriber will have to “ask” the telecommunications operator for access to pornographic content. Unless the same subscriber previously asked his internet provider to turn on the block.

Minister Cieszyński also noted that the Ministry of Digitization “will not have access to the user base with the blockade turned on”. However, he did not specify whether anyone – apart from the operator himself – would have access to such registers. It is worth noting that for non-compliance with the new regulations, a telecommunications operator may be fined up to 1% of its gross revenue. its revenues for the previous year (but not more than PLN 1 million).