It’s been months since the UK government began requiring stronger age checks under the Online Safety Act, and recent research suggests those measures are falling short of keeping kids away from harmful content.
In some cases, even drawing on a mustache has been reported as enough to fool age detection software. Like keeping booze away from teenagers or nudie mags out of the hands of young lads, slapping a big “restricted, 18 +” label on parts of the internet hasn’t stopped kids testing the limits. Those limits, according to UK online safety group Internet Matters, are easy to sidestep.
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Source:The Register News
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