In a recent effort to protect minors, the Paris Court of Appeal reportedly ordered French Internet service providers (ISPs) to block four pornographic websites that lacked strong age verification systems. According to a report by Tech Crunch, “When the Paris Court of Appeal recently blocked four porn sites in France for not having proper age verification systems, two online child protection nonprofits that pushed for the block They might have thought that they had achieved a big victory. But in one respect, it proved to be somewhat of a victory in itself.” These four websites include:
* Iciporno
*Mrsexe
*Tukif
XHamster
However, a technical reason has resulted in an incomplete block. While the court order targeted all four websites, the complaint against Pixabay mistakenly listed only the French subdomain “As a result, the ISP has complied with the order by blocking only the French version of the site. The main Pixabay website remains accessible in France.
This unintended loophole leaves a gap in the Court’s effort to restrict access to adult material. French authorities, particularly regulator Arcom, are now tasked with finding a way to close this loophole and fully enforce the court order.
French court orders complete ban on 4 porn websites
Earlier this week, the Paris Court of Appeal ordered the complete blocking of several pornographic websites, including Xhamster and Tukif. The court passed this order on their failure to introduce a foolproof age verification system.
According to a report by Politico, the Court of Appeal said in its order that the general interest of children is “a paramount consideration that can justify the infringement of other rights such as freedom of expression or communication.” “Prioritizing the protection of private lives of adult consumers by rejecting age verification is inconsistent with the protection of minors,” the court said in its order.
