Ofcom's new Code: R18 still banned

GJP Co Durham on May 26th, 2005
The old adage “No sex please we’re British??? still applies even today, when it comes to any body of authority in the UK. They want sex to continue being thought of as “dirty??? and restricted to those grubby little sex shops in the seedy parts of out cities. They still think that their television set as part of the family, bringing entertainment into their homes and, even though they won’t subscribe to an adult channel themselves, they can’t bear the thought that “their??? TV could be connected to “That filth!??? The internet is a different matter. They don’t understand it. They haven’t even bothered to find out about it or are still struggling with the basics. So the fact that somebody somewhere may be accessing porn through the net concerns them, but they wouldn’t know where to start to ban it or regulate it. The main difference is that with the web you have to go out there and search for porn. With TV, it is being beamed into their homes, so because they don’t like it, they’ll make damn sure nobody else can access it. No one in Ofcom wants to be the person that everyone points to and shouts, “That’s the person who allowed hard-core on our TV screens??? I wouldn’t be surprised if some top politician, at the eleventh hour, picked up the phone to Ofcom’s boss and made it clear that they should continue the ban on R18, whatever the research showed. People keep harping on about protecting children, when what they really mean is they are embarrassed by the thought that their children might see an explicit sex film and realise that mummy and daddy do that. My prediction is that the matter will go to court and some judge will give the go-ahead for R18 on subscription TV, just like the ruling on BBFC R18 videos in 2000 (I think that was the year) As technology advances, someone will come up with a foolproof method of ensuring that kids can’t access porn on the TV and that should keep everyone happy.

mark oxford on May 26th, 2005
well there we go then - the nanny state strikes again !!! . if we lived just 22 miles across the channel we would not even be having this debate.

Geoff in Durham on May 26th, 2005
On one hand Ofcom say that a PIN will protect children from seeing 15 cert films, then they say the PIN will not protect children from seeing R18 films. A serious contradiction here!! R18 should be allowed for over 18's who use their credit card to obtain a subscription and use a PIN on the digibox. We dont ban alcohol or cigarettes because children might get their hands on them.

anon on May 26th, 2005
Bit like hacking really kids know everything, to sort this problem get a new pin and keep it secret simple.R18 god why don't they just do an R21 and everyone will be happy then.

Dave, Midlands on May 26th, 2005
It is a ridiculous decision. 1. If PINs aren't safe, can someone mention this to my bank! 2. After 10 mins searching the net, you can find more R18 material than you know want to do with if you so wish. 3. Why are reducing the restriction showing 15 and still showing 18 films using this so called unsecure system?

Ross, Glasgow on May 26th, 2005
Kids (and I mean 12+) are probably having more sex than adults these days anyway - I'm sure watching a R18 movie isn't going to change their direction in life - sex is a natural thing to do, and it has been a form of entertainment for centuries. Thank god that our EU friends are broadcasting them, and we can pick them up.

Ian, Derby UK on May 26th, 2005
If we need to protect children from broadcast content, then we must he consistent. (1) Why do we not protect kids from the portrayal of immoral behaviour in many films, some of which if copied cause actual harm, such as the use of alcohol and tobacco (2) Why do we protect kids from R18 content, which as far as I am aware causes no actual harm; how many people end up in hospital as the result of watching porn?

Anon on May 26th, 2005
Disgusted witht he decision, there should be no ban! Its down to responsibilty of the parents to prevent their kids watching this material, plus as mentioned, stuff already show is stuff people wouldnt want kids to see, so adding the R18 factor wont make that much important to prevent children viewing it.

Daniella Cardiff on May 26th, 2005
for god's sake! look at the the men here! go out and get a girlfriend and stop worrying about the porn! society is in an awful state with chidlren watching programs that they are too young for...James Bulgers murderers to name one high profile case not to mention all the self harm and other things that go on behind closed doors, that we have no idea about. I'm no Mary Whitehouse, but the ban is necessary to protect the kids

James, Horsham on May 26th, 2005
The PIN system needs to be compartmentalised My whole family has the PIN so they can order Sky Box office movies, so a seperate PIN for adult would help. And possibly another for going online?

L, Bodrum Turkey on May 26th, 2005
Now this reaffirms why i buggered off out of the uk, its becoming more and more nanny state than ever. I live in Turkey and you can go buy hardcore next to the sweet counter in a shop here and watch full on hardcore thru the satellite system and if you can do that in a muslim country, it dont say much for the uk. Besides I'm quite sure that if someone actually took this challenge to the EU, they'd win because clearly the uk is in breach somewhere.

VFlies, London on May 26th, 2005
As rightly put by some others, the children who would manage to access porn on TV, will find other ways to get what they want via the internet, mail order... Wouldn't education be better than a ban? Why can't we be as successful with sex education as other European countries? I don't believe there are more perverts and rapes on the continent because they allow R18 on pay tv.

John, Wiltshire on May 26th, 2005
Of course it's a strange decision which smacks of head in the sand, political interference and/or deference to right wing and religious pressure groups. What's even stranger is the mass of contradictions contained in the Code, some of which you bring out in your article. The reasoning in it seems to support a relaxation in the ban, only for the conclusion to be the opposite! It would be interestng to see how those inconsistencies would stand up in a court of law like the European Court of Human Rights. In the meantime, perhaps the adult channels will be encouraged to take some sort of collective action both as a result of the woolly thinking and because of the number of subscriptions that will, inevitably, be cancelled over the next few weeks.

Bill Wakefiedl on May 26th, 2005
Nanny State, springs to mind. Surely we are able to decide what we watch and when we watch it. A PIN code is adequate protection for children. It's the parents responsibility to protect their offspring ot some self opinionated Government body!

Daniel, Plymouth. on May 26th, 2005
Ofcom are pandering to the insular Daily Mail readers who are uncomfortable with their own sexuality. Furthermore, they appear to be in complete denial, that in this digital,age hard core pornography is freely available via satellite (with a subscription) within the rest of Europe and the UK from Hotbird and Astra 19.2. Most of the hard core offerings from Hotbird and Astra 19.2 are encrypted, though some hardcore content, aswell as a lot of softcore is broadcast unencrypted, but I do not see my fellow europeans as perverts who have sexually corrupted children. From the DS article I understand that Ofcom are not prepared to allow hardcore pornography, as there is still the chance that children may access scenes of vaginal penatration and oral sex. If this is the case then if Ofcom are allowing the current code to continue, then they are admitting that they have no reservations about allowing children viewing a man performing an oral sex act on a woman in a softcore scene, naked lesbians caressing or real sex acts edited for softcore films. I do not really care what Ofcom's broadcasting code says, as I will continue to decide for myself what I want to watch! At the moment I have a system which allows me to change from Celebrity Love Island to Hardcore XXX action on Hotbird as easily and quickly as switching between BBC1 and BBC2.

Kurt, London on May 26th, 2005
more and more like russia....we want porn and we want it now!...especially on tvx which is terrible!!

Mike (Milk) - Dunstable, Beds on May 26th, 2005
Nah dont need banning i mean why bother lil kids can just put sex into google and get all they want??? this is the year 2005 hardcore sex is easier to get than chips. Stupid Ofcom whoever you are. Im 18 myself and i watched hardcore sex when i was like 14 years old and i turned out fine. A lvl student with a girlfriend and a job. What harm can it do???

Jason on May 26th, 2005
This is such a ridiculous ruling by Ofcom. It seems like they ignored their own evidence when making this decision Adult channels are only available to those adults who specifically choose to subscribe, a kid would have to get hold of their parents PIN, stay up until midnight unsupervised (unlikely any responsible parent would allow that for a young child) and their parents would have explicitly chosen to subscribe to the service. It's highly unlikely that would happen. Also, If PIN's aren't secure why are Ofcom allowing regular 15 and 18 rated content to be broadcast during the day with PIN protection ? Children could easily be exposed to strong violence and explicit sex in the middle of the afternoon if they could crack the PIN system. Yet adult channels, which only broadcast late night AND require additional registration with a credit card are prohibited. That’s inconsistent. Why do we trust our banks when they say PIN protection is adequate to protect our life savings, but not to protect little kids from accessing inappropriate material? Again it’s inconsistent. What about all the gross, bloody, gory violence allowed on free to air TV? It's okay to broadcast that without a PIN. I’m sure a child or even an adult would find that more disturbing then sex. It's also okay to broadcast hardcore sex in 'art house' movies which have aired on Channel 4 and Five. Once again the ban on R18’s is clearly inconsistent. Hardcore porn is allowed in more liberal European countries, and is there any real proof of harm to children there? - No. It'd be much easier for a child to pick up an R18 rated Video/DVD their parents purchased stick in the DVD player and play it any time of the day when their parents aren’t around, however the UK courts decided in 2000 that was insufficient grounds to ban Porn videos for adults. Porn is also very easily available on the internet - should ISPs be forced to filter and ban sites to protect children because parents can’t be trusted to do so? The protection available on TV is much tighter then with DVD’s and the internet. Preventing children from accessing inappropriate material should be down to the parents. If we banned everything that might be harmful to children there wouldn't be much on TV after 9pm! PIN protected porn on the UK adult channels is by far the most secure form of delivery, yet in a country which supposedly has freedom of speech and expression adults who wish to watch adult content are denied. All of this is based on the age old ‘protection of children’ argument - which could be used to ban almost anything! I know let’s ban alcohol since children might end up drinking it, and unlike porn there is overwhelming evidence showing that it can harm children. The rights of adults are irrelevant since we need to protect the children! See isn’t that such a weak and pathetic argument? Yes I do believe children need to be protected from harmful material and with the measures provided by satellite encryption they are. If PIN protection is not secure Ofcom should immediately ban the transmission of 15 and 18 rating films during the day. If Ofcom believe PIN protection is secure enough to allow 15 and 18 rated content during the day then they should also allow R18 content to be broadcast at night using the same protection.

Matt, North Yorkshire on May 26th, 2005
There are procedures in place to stop children from watching these channels at the moment that broadcast "soft" porn. If they are not good enough then this needs to be looked into. NOTHING is totally 100% secure. EVERYTHING can (and will) be broken into, hacked etc. I do not watch these channels so their decision does not affect or bother me in the slightest. Though parents need to be careful about security for such channels if they choose to watch/sunscribe to them.

CG, Scotland on May 25th, 2005
Ofcom ‘talks a good game’ with references to the ECHR, Freedom of Expression etc, but is merely paying lip service to these ideals, and has now, finally, revealed that it is, in fact, a pro-censorship organisation, IMO. A ludicrous, illogical, repressive, disproportionate, unjustified decision that is anything but ‘light touch’. Looking at the wider Broadcast Code, their obsession with ‘child protection’ appears to have resulted in an even more censorial regime than was suffered under the ITC :-(

Chris, Lanarkshire on May 25th, 2005
R18 still banned on the tellybox then? So what? How many parents out there have these videos on VHS/DVD, and how many times has young Kylie or Cameron (as seems the current naming fashion) been able to pop on one of these films and see a 9in schlong standing to attention. If parents cannot even control what their kids are watching on telly, they shouldn't have kids. It is not the responsibility of broadcasters to control what kids get to see. Parents need to take control, hide their video collection and keep their PIN a secret!!

John, Leicester on May 25th, 2005
I am happy with the descision that premium channels can now broadcast up to 15 rated material throughout the day, this descision is long overdue.. however if OFCOM are so confident in this PIN system, then why the same doesn't apply for the R18 broadcasts, which, in addition will need a valid debit/credit card, is pure idiotic.. it just seems that some of the OFCOM board are against pornography in general and are using the "They could guess the pin" explanation as an excuse.

James Gloucester on May 25th, 2005
R18 films would only be shown at night anyway when responsible parents will have put the kids to bed. Will the showing of r18 films have any effect on the porn film industry? Plus it means channels will rely too much on porn for viewers

Graham, Stevenage on May 25th, 2005
Need a more secure method than PIN? Well, that's quite easy... Allow R18 broadcasts only on digital cable / satellite systems, on dedicated channels. Not only would the channels be PIN protected, you would have to specifically request access to the channels from your provider - ie. combine access controls for normal subscription channels with additional PIN security. You could even make it so that you can only get the channels enabled by visiting an authorised 'agent' (ie. licensed sex shop). Any kid able to circumvent that lot ought to be old enough that they should have had decent sex education - and if they've had that, there is *NO* harm in a little adult entertainment. OFCOM's role should be to aid responsible parenting, not replace it.

Ajay, Nuneaton on May 25th, 2005
So its okay for kids to watch people being murdered, but god forbid they see an erect penis..

Michael Collins, Leamington on May 25th, 2005
It is a bit stupid where they say it causes 'harm' so when a teenager is 17 and they watch porn they will be 'harmed' by it, but then when they turn 18 that person miraculously will not be harmed by watching porn hmmm....

Damndirtyape, UK on May 25th, 2005
"some children in the current environment are able to access and use their parents/carers INTERNET CONNECTION without these adults knowledge." Adopting a "precautionary approach," therefore, the regulator was "not satisfied that under 18s can be effectively protected." Spot the changes...

Tom, Leeds on May 25th, 2005
Should Ofcom ban the broadcast of R18 material? Of course they should. Only hardcore porn is rated R18 and any adult who thinks they're mature enough to watch hardcore porn is mature enough to walk into a shop and not be ashamed to buy it.

Marty, Leicester on May 25th, 2005
Well, its a very stupid rule, are we not in an age where we've broken away from the taboo's. Kids can view hardcore porn on the net, without difficulty, even with a child filter on, there are ways around it, and you'll probably find more and more children are using the net, and so if its freely available on the net, then why not make it avaiable on PIN channels...

Paul, Berkshire on May 25th, 2005
Maybe it should be down to TV companies to supply additional PIN protection that would change daily or weekly with the addition of own personnal PIN.

Brian, Yorkshire on May 25th, 2005
I am not the least bit interested in subscribing to porn but if people want to watch it they should be able to. The same goes for the internet. Anything that involves kids seems to send all logic and reason out of the window. It is up to the parents to ensure that PINs are withheld from kids - if they are not then it is just too bad.

Andy on May 25th, 2005
How illogical can they get? PINs are a reason to allow 15s 24/7, but not to allow R18s ever. Ok... Someone ought to go seek Judicial Review....

Kev, Brighton on May 25th, 2005
The responsibility should lie with parents. If kept secret, a PIN number can be far more secure than Dad's R18 rated videos hidden in the bottom drawer.

Bronson on May 25th, 2005
Why do they assume everyone has kids?

Ian, Cardiff on May 25th, 2005
So, a child knowing their parents' PIN can watch violent 15-rated films during the day when their parents are at work and not around to supervise them...

Robert, Leeds on May 25th, 2005
No. R18s should be allowed to be shown on channels which are not readily accessible to minors such as The Adult Channel and the other subscription channels. If they are allowing adults to see nude women (it';s never nude men is it) during the day, then I don't see the problem with showing R18s late at night on PIN controlled channels. Frankly, children are far more likely to press PLAY on the R18 DVDs which can be found by any child who looks carefully enough than they are to get hold of a PIN number to come across R18s on subscription adult stations.

stu iow on May 25th, 2005
this is the most stupis law ive ever heard of having 5 kids myself i know whats at stake but im still being treated like a little kid myself the pin code on sky is safe if perants are that worried take the sky card out with them then there is no chance well if u wanted r18 porn u can get a porn card for channels outside uk this is putting kids at more risk anyway this is ridiculous

Matt, Luton on May 25th, 2005
I can not understand how ofcom think that a child is more likely to be damaged by pin protected R18 sexual films shown after 11 at night than they would be by violence shown throughout the day on 'normal' film channels and even the news. Particularly as there has been no proof what-so-ever that the material in question is harmful to children at ay age.

Tony Tamworth on May 25th, 2005
I feel quite insulted that I can now have cards to handle cash that require no signiture only a 4 digit pin number. This is supposedly a more secure way to use credit cards but I am not responsible enough to stop my children using a pin code to access R18 moves.

Adam, Bristol on May 25th, 2005
Damn the kids! I want hardcore porn on TV!