Pornography websites which do not prevent children accessing them should be prosecuted, a report by a committee of MPs has said.
Publishing adult material online which is “readily available to children” could be against the law, the report warned.
The Culture, Media and Sport Committee’s report, entitled ‘Online safety’, said there is “scope for greater enforcement in this area”.
Harmful
It added that harmful porn websites could be blocked if they “make no serious attempt to hinder access by children”.
The MPs called for adult sites to provide protections for children such as requiring payment by a credit card, in a similar way to newsagents placing certain magazines on top shelves.
Porn websites could put their content behind a warning page and ensure filters can detect explicit material, the report suggested.
Obscene
Current Crown Prosecution Service guidance for interpreting the Obscene Publications Act 1959 says: “where children are likely to access material of a degree of sexual explicitness equivalent to what is available to those aged 18 and above in a licensed sex shop, that material may be considered to be obscene and subject to prosecution”.
But pornography websites have yet to be prosecuted, according to evidence from the Authority for Television on Demand (ATVOD).
Conservative MP John Whittingdale, chairman of the committee, said, “those who profit from the internet must demonstrate the utmost commitment to protecting children and should be prosecuted and penalised if they don’t”.
Reluctant
And John Carr, secretary of the Children’s Charities’ Coalition on Internet Safety, noted that the police are often reluctant to pursue perpetrators because most pornography websites are based overseas.
But they, “should not be allowed to break the law with complete immunity. It makes a mockery and laughing stock of the law”, he said.
A Government spokesman welcomed the committee’s report and said the Child Exploitation and Online Protection centre was able to draw on specialist skills and resources as part of the recently-formed National Crime Agency.