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First of all this headline is hilarious, secondly not everything has a webcam and thirdly, of course its from the UK.

Of cause it’s the UK. They also thought it would be a good idea to sell “porn passes” in local shops that you would use to prove your 18…

The only reason you don’t think “oh that’s just China” is that the idea is just being floated in the news atm and hasn’t just been implemented. :-p

Mobile networks already (and have for 10 years +) required proof of being over 18 to access anything they consider "adult content".

Very minimal requirements, so much so I forget they even exist. In my experience A brief chat to customer services is enough to bypass it (without the need to hand over ID), and that only happens for pay as you go, As contract plan presume you are of legal age (because well you have to be to sign up for a contract), and then its a simple question during sign up and/or a toggle in the account management site (which a password reset for needs access to the sim card for a text message, not exactly rocket science for a kid to get around).

Same goes for fixed line broadband.

Edit: oh and that doesn't include bypassing the network lockouts via using your own DNS, Using Apples IP address protection (basically a VPN), or any other 3rd party VPN..

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