Accessing pornography? In Spain, you need a license to prove you are over 18.

Spain unveiled a digital tool on Monday designed to restrict access to pornography, especially for minors. Once available, users attempting to access adult content will be required to show a license to prove they are of legal age. The measure is causing controversy in the country because it raises privacy concerns.

According to the newspaper WorldThe tool has been incorporated into the “Spanish Digital Wallet,” which is available as a mobile phone app and which also stores other documents such as census certificates or university degrees. It also includes credentials that are “anonymous” and “respect the data protection principle of minimizing the exchange of information.”

The strategy begins with the Digital Child Protection Bill, which requires all electronic devices, such as cell phones and tablets, to be factory-fitted with parental controls.

30 powers
The plan also includes a package of 30 credentials to use for a month that prevent platforms or the internet from detecting the user. During these 30 sessions or 30 days, the user does not always need to show an ID to prove their age.

The same credentials can be used a maximum of three times on the same platform.” Another set of credentials will be issued after 30 days.

Preventing children and teenagers from viewing pornography

While the Spanish executive acknowledges there may be “ways around the situation”, the aim of the measures is to prevent children and teenagers from viewing pornography.

In addition to the digital tool, it is planned to amend the General Telecommunications Act to allow the National Competition Market Commission to ban platforms or pages with pornographic content that do not include effective age verification mechanisms.

When the system is finally implemented, pornographic sites created in Spain will have to be prepared to be “whitelisted as permitted in Spain.”

Technology sector involved

The Spanish government has tried to involve the entire tech sector in its plan, having already held meetings with both operators and tech giants such as Apple, Google, Meta and Microsoft.

In recent years, several countries have attempted to take measures to reduce access to pornography, but none have yet proven fully effective.

Confidentiality
The government wants to submit the application in mid-July so that it can be up and running by the end of the summer. Cybersecurity experts are concerned about the measure.

“Putting the driver’s licenses of some 40 million citizens online is a terrible idea, worthy of the worst dictatorships. It is a nuclear bomb for civil liberties, and in my opinion it should not be launched. The consequences of its use are wrong. or careless actions by government officials could prove fatal to our democracy,”