Latest news with #OFCOM
Tom's Guide
7 days ago
- Tom's Guide
Is it illegal to circumvent age verification checks?
With the introduction of the Online Safety Act in the UK, citizens will now need to verify their age in order to access explicit content. Age verification techniques can vary between platforms, from scanning a photo ID to inputting your payment card details. While there are now an estimated 5 million age checks being completed every day in the UK since the OSA's introduction on July 25, 2025, not all UK citizens are willing to comply with the act, citing concerns regarding data privacy and safety. Some are turning to workarounds, like the best VPNs, to circumvent the age verification checks and avoid submitting their personal or sensitive information in order to access content restricted by the Online Safety Act. The Online Safety Act itself requires websites and social media platforms to introduce greater controls on the content hosted on their platforms, including requiring age checks to view adult content. As per the Act, all "search services and services that allow users to post content online or to interact with each other" must abide by the Online Safety Act and ensure that appropriate age restrictions are set, to avoid children accessing harmful content. For sites or platforms that host explicit content, this must include "technically accurate, robust, reliable and fair" age verification checks. This includes sites such as Reddit, X and even Spotify have introduced age checks for users. It is also illegal for sites and platforms to promote circumventing the OSA, with legal action already being taken against a site which directly told users to use a VPN in order to get around the age verification check. If any sites violate the law, they can be fined up to £18m (roughly $24m) or 10% of their qualifying worldwide revenue, whichever is greater. In the case of more serious violations, they could face court-imposed sanctions from third-parties like internet providers leading to the entire site or platform being blocked or restricted in the UK. So, while the OSA has clear rules for websites and social media platforms, it does not introduce any laws for individual citizens. So, if UK citizens do choose to use a VPN to avoid age verification checks, this is not illegal. In fact, the head of OFCOM, Melanie Dawes, told MPs in May that 'individual users can use VPNs" as "nothing in the Act blocks it", although she did point out that OFCOM takes a "very dim view" of the promotion of using VPNs to circumvent age verification. However, while the OSA does not provide any guidelines for internet users themselves, members of the UK government have made statements regarding VPN use to circumvent age verification. Labour Party Tech Secretary Peter Kyle has said that the Online Safety Act "marks the most significant step forward in child safety since the internet was created" and that "age verification keeps children safe". Kyle also stated via X that those who want to overturn the Online Safety Act are "on the side of predators". While some concerns were raised about the UK government banning VPNs due to their ability to circumvent age checks, Kyle has also said that there are no plans to ban VPNs. We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example: 1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service). 2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad. We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.
The Irish Sun
01-08-2025
- Entertainment
- The Irish Sun
‘Not AGAIN' rant Love Island fans as couple get steamy under the covers for THIRD time
LOVE Island fans are fed up with seeing one of the couples getting steamy under the covers during the night. 3 Meg and Dejon were seen yet again beneath the covers in a steamy and intimate moment Credit: Eroteme 3 The couple recently became boyfriend and girlfriend Credit: Eroteme And since things got more serious between the pair, this has been translating in the bedroom. They then slammed the couple when they were seen cuddling under the covers on a second night. Read More about Love Island And now, the couple have seemingly done it again for a third time. In Thursday nights episode, the pair were seen completely covered by their bed sheets as they got cosy with one another. Only their hands were occasionally seen as they moved beneath the covers. Reacting to the steamy scenes, one person said: "Can they stop showing mug and mustard having sex every night pls. Most read in Love Island "We get it they're 'boyfriend and girlfriend' and SO 'in love'." A second person said: "Sex is all they have in common." Love Island fans slam villa 'villain' for 'gas-lighting' partner and cheating in couple challenge "All Dejon & Meg do is have sex. it hurts my eyes," penned a third. "Why are Meg and D ALWAYS having sex????? WE ARENT BUYING IT. STOP WITH THE THEATRICS," added a fourth. Meanwhile, earlier in the week, fans fumed AGAIN when Meg and Dejon seemingly had sex for the second time in the Love Island villa. "Ffs everynight Meg and Dejon having sex save our eyes plz," said one. LOVE ISLAND 2025 - ALL the dumped stars so far LOVE Island 2025 is in its penultimate week. Here are all the dumped Islanders so far ... Sophie Lee Blu Chegini (has since returned) Malisha Jordan Will Means Shea Mannings Poppy Harrison Caprice Alexandra Megan Clarke (has since returned) Remell Mullins Ryan Bannister Alima Gagigo Martin Enitan Chris Middleton Yas Broom Rheo Parnel Giorgio Russo Emily Moran Andrada Pop Ben Holbrough Tommy Bradley Lucy Quinn Lauren Wood Harrison Solomon (quit) Emma Munro Boris Vidovic Billykiss Azeez "WE DON'T WANT TO SEE MEG AND DEJON HAVING SEX," penned a second. A third added: "Meg and Dejon having sex is making me sick I'm making a complaint to OFCOM." While a fourth said: "I do not want to see meg and dejon having sex twice producers. my day is ruined." The Love Island final is nearing the end of the current season with just six couples left. Last night, It's likely another dumping will take place before the final, but which couples will reign supreme and make it to the grand finale on Monday night? And who will win the coveted £50,000 and title of winning couple? 3 The Love Island final is almost here - but who will win? Credit: Eroteme
Scottish Sun
01-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Scottish Sun
‘Not AGAIN' rant Love Island fans as couple get steamy under the covers for THIRD time
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) LOVE Island fans are fed up with seeing one of the couples getting steamy under the covers during the night. Meg Moore, 25, and Dejon Noel-Williams, 26, have gotten steamy and seemingly romped for a THIRD time in recent weeks. 3 Meg and Dejon were seen yet again beneath the covers in a steamy and intimate moment Credit: Eroteme 3 The couple recently became boyfriend and girlfriend Credit: Eroteme The couple, who have been paired up since the very beginning of the series, recently made things official when they became boyfriend and girlfriend. And since things got more serious between the pair, this has been translating in the bedroom. Fans had already fumed over the first time the pair seemingly got steamy under the covers in the bedroom. They then slammed the couple when they were seen cuddling under the covers on a second night. And now, the couple have seemingly done it again for a third time. In Thursday nights episode, the pair were seen completely covered by their bed sheets as they got cosy with one another. Only their hands were occasionally seen as they moved beneath the covers. Reacting to the steamy scenes, one person said: "Can they stop showing mug and mustard having sex every night pls. "We get it they're 'boyfriend and girlfriend' and SO 'in love'." A second person said: "Sex is all they have in common." Love Island fans slam villa 'villain' for 'gas-lighting' partner and cheating in couple challenge "All Dejon & Meg do is have sex. it hurts my eyes," penned a third. "Why are Meg and D ALWAYS having sex????? WE ARENT BUYING IT. STOP WITH THE THEATRICS," added a fourth. Meanwhile, earlier in the week, fans fumed AGAIN when Meg and Dejon seemingly had sex for the second time in the Love Island villa. "Ffs everynight Meg and Dejon having sex save our eyes plz," said one. LOVE ISLAND 2025 - ALL the dumped stars so far LOVE Island 2025 is in its penultimate week. Here are all the dumped Islanders so far ... Sophie Lee Blu Chegini (has since returned) Malisha Jordan Will Means Shea Mannings Poppy Harrison Caprice Alexandra Megan Clarke (has since returned) Remell Mullins Ryan Bannister Alima Gagigo Martin Enitan Chris Middleton Yas Broom Rheo Parnel Giorgio Russo Emily Moran Andrada Pop Ben Holbrough Tommy Bradley Lucy Quinn Lauren Wood Harrison Solomon (quit) Emma Munro Boris Vidovic Billykiss Azeez "WE DON'T WANT TO SEE MEG AND DEJON HAVING SEX," penned a second. A third added: "Meg and Dejon having sex is making me sick I'm making a complaint to OFCOM." While a fourth said: "I do not want to see meg and dejon having sex twice producers. my day is ruined." The Love Island final is nearing the end of the current season with just six couples left. Last night, Helena and Blu were dumped from the Island, leaving Meg and Dejon; Shakira and Harry; Toni and Cach; Yasmin and Jamie; Angel and Ty; and Megan and Connor. It's likely another dumping will take place before the final, but which couples will reign supreme and make it to the grand finale on Monday night? And who will win the coveted £50,000 and title of winning couple?
Tom's Guide
30-07-2025
- Tom's Guide
The top 3 cybersecurity risks posed by the Online Safety Act
On July 25, 2025, the Online Safety Act went into effect in the UK. This new law means that UK residents will have to verify their age in order to access content deemed inappropriate for minors by the Office of Communications (OFCOM). This has led to a huge spike in UK residents searching for the best VPNs in order to circumvent these restrictions and avoid sharing their personal information. The law has required many sites and apps, including social media sites, to enforce age verification through a number of different ways. However, this has raised a number of concerns around data privacy and safety, especially the cybersecurity risks posed by third parties processing sensitive information. Here, we take a look at some of the risks that may be posed by third-party age verification services. NordVPN – our top-rated VPN overallWe've tested dozens of VPNs, and on balance, we think NordVPN is the best choice for most people. It's fast, can unblock sites, has tons of servers around the world, and offers solid, audited privacy credentials. Tom's Guide readers can claim an exclusive four months free, bringing the price down to £2.31 / $2.91 per month on the two-year plan. If you subscribe to higher tiers, you'll get an Amazon gift card of up to £50 / $50, and there's a 30-day refund period. Many UK citizens have questioned the safety of uploading either their likeness or a copy of their government ID (e.g. passport or driver's license) in order to access blocked sites or content on apps. Many are concerned about the potential ramifications of this information being stolen in a data breach. The personal information available on an ID card is very valuable to hackers, and could be sold for a large amount of money on the dark web. If a third-party was hacked, and copies of users' identification were stolen, this could have huge repercussions for all those involved. The main concerns are, of course, identity theft and fraud. If a hacker gained access to a copy of someone's passport or driving license, they could do a number of nefarious things, including opening bank accounts in your name, applying for loans and credit cards, and even create fake IDs using your details. This can have huge ramifications for the victim, including impacting their credit score and having crimes committed in their names. Unfortunately, the onus is on the companies and sites employing the third-party services and the third-party services themselves to make sure they are as secure as possible, and that users' personal information is as protected as possible. In order to comply with the new age verification laws, many companies have introduced age verification via third-party services. For example, social media site Reddit has employed the use of Persona. However, many of the third-party companies that are being used to comply with the Online Safety Act are actually based in the US, which has worrying implications for the UK data stored by them. This is because, under the Patriot Act, these companies could be compelled to give the data they hold to the US government. To combat this, companies must censor and/or delete the information used to verify a person's age. For example, Persona has said that it will not store ID verification data for longer than 7 days. This is similar to how Private Internet Access, a well-respected US-based VPN, upholds its user privacy by simply not recording or storing any user data. While it does publish quarterly reports of all the information requests it has received, the reports show that it has not shared any information with the US government – after all, it cannot release any data it does not have. With this being said, Persona and its data protection practices does not represent all of the third-party verification companies being used to verify users' ages. This means that other companies could hold users' data for a lot longer than 7 days, meaning that they would have more data to surrender if the US government asks for it. This is obviously problematic considering the sensitive nature of the data that they will have access to. Last year, I wrote on a new sextortion scam which combined real data stolen from data leaks and/or breaches with an intentionally anxiety-fuelling script in order to convince victims that they had to pay up or risk intimate pictures and details being leaked to their entire contact list. Of course, hackers did not actually have access to these pictures or details, and instead were relying on victims having limited knowledge on what certain types of malware can actually do. However, with these new age verification laws requiring users to upload pictures of themselves or their government ID, scammers could easily take advantage of this and put together an even scarier script. If you had used an age verification system to access an adult website, it would suddenly become far more plausible that your data had been accessed, meaning you may be more likely to believe the lies sent to you by scammers. This would be even more believable if the scammers had access to information that could plausibly be on your government ID stolen from other data breaches or leaks. However, it's important to remember that third-party verification means that your account data is not shared with the verification service, and your ID data is not shared with the site you're attempting to access. So, if scammers are claiming they have linked the two, this is a lie. We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example: 1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service). 2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad. We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.
Tom's Guide
25-07-2025
- Business
- Tom's Guide
OFCOM discourages VPN use to avoid age verification checks – but privacy advocates see no alternative
If you live in the UK, you will have seen the news that OFCOM's Online Safety Bill age-verification law has come into effect. It has been developed to protect children from harmful content – but there are serious flaws. For most privacy advocates, the idea of letting a website's AI tool scan, analyse and keep a copy of your facial data is a step too far. Uploading copies of official documents is equally unpalatable, particularly when many of these sites will have little-to-know track record of looking after such sensitive user data. Instead, users will likely reach for their own privacy solution, such as a VPN, to keep them safe. NordVPN – our top pick for private browsingAfter testing and reviewing dozens of VPNs, NordVPN came out on top. It's a well-balanced package with great speeds, servers in 126 countries, and excellent privacy credentials. It's also very effective at accessing geo-blocked content on sites like Netflix. One subscription covers 10 devices, and plans start at a reasonable $2.91 per month ($81.36 plus tax up front for 28 months). There's a 30-day refund period in case you don't like it. There's plenty of recent evidence that even large corporations are incapable of protecting customer data. Earlier this year, UK retailers Marks and Spencer and Co-op were brought to their knees by cyber attacks, and reams of names, contact information and even home addresses were stolen. Companies like Google and Meta have built their business models on collecting as much personal data as possible. Other companies harvest what they can and sell it to the highest bidder. Who's to say one of these age-verification applications won't be hacked, or simply auction off your likeness and driving licence? What's more, we already know that the restrictions don't work properly. For example, Reddit relies on NSFW community moderators to tag their content as such. Should any of these communities go under the radar – which many do – this content will not require age verification to view. Similarly, adult sites with low UK traffic are still freely available. This is due to the way the Online Safety Bill is enforced. The websites themselves must enforce age verification, and if a particular website doesn't see much traffic from the UK, there's no reason for it to abide by the bill. The protection of children from harmful adult content is important, but the current system of age verification is deeply flawed, easily sidestepped, and puts the online privacy of tens of millions of people at critical risk. Any VPN that allows you to choose which server you connect will be able to help. However, the best VPNs aren't just for accessing blocked content or streaming a Netflix show only available in Canada. They're the perfect starting point for taking your online privacy more seriously – and avoiding uploading your face to an age-verification app is just the start. By encrypting your data, they hide what you're doing online from anyone watching. Typically, this is your internet provider – some are known to collect and sell your browsing habits – but it could also be your college administrator, or even a hacker on an unsecured Wi-Fi network. At Tom's Guide, we've tested dozens, and there are a handful we can wholeheartedly recommend as user-friendly, privacy-focused services that do what they say on the tin. Our top pick is NordVPN, but Surfshark is a cheaper alternative. ExpressVPN is a little more expensive, but comes with a huge suite of extra tools like cyber insurance and personal data removal. We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example: 1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service). 2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad. We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.
