Update of October 12, 2021: a little more than a year after this poll and the adoption of an amendment, a first legal action was unsuccessful to force the implementation of a blocking system by Internet service providers. The ball is now in the CSA's court, which has recently been offered the means to act. This article has been updated to explain this new information and the difficulties in enforcing it.

At the beginning of June 2020, the Senate took advantage of the law on domestic violence to add an amendment to X sites reserved for adults. The aim is to limit access to these sites to minors. If many agree on the principle, the means to be used are debated.

To implement this type of restriction, several solutions can be envisaged. Exit the "I'm over 18" button to click, instead of verification by the state via administrative sites, or even through Internet service providers or even through adult sites themselves via the presence of a bank card. But what do the French think and what means are they already imagining to circumvent this obligation?

Answers are provided to us by a survey commissioned by the magazine "La Voix du X" and carried out by the IFOP on June 17 and 18, 2020 with a representative sample of 1020 adults. From the outset, the majority of those questioned, 57%, consider that having to state one's identity to access a pornographic site constitutes an invasion of privacy and 63% consider that this prohibition is the responsibility of the parents above all.

Justice exempts ISPs from blocking obligation

Following the adoption of this amendment, child protection associations tried to ride the favorable trend to try to block access to the most prominent websites such as Pornhub, Mrsexe, Iciporno, Tukif, Xnxx, Xhamster, Xvideos, Youporn and Redtube as relayed by the news site Le Monde. But unable to clearly identify the owners of the websites in question, it is the French Internet providers who have been summoned to appear.

Like the majority of survey respondents, justice did not consider that this should be the responsibility of internet operators, but rather of the publishers or hosts of the pornographic sites in question. The latter, hosted abroad and camouflaged behind legal notices that do not reveal their identity, can rest easy.

However, the situation could change with the new possibility offered to the CSA (Higher Audiovisual Council) to be able to request the blocking of sites after having given formal notice to platforms specializing in the dissemination of pornographic content.

Also note that the survey raises the delicate question of social networks by citing Twitter or Reddit which, in certain sections or certain accounts, also broadcast pornographic content. If such a law were to apply to X sites, 75% of respondents believe that it should logically also apply to these websites.

In any case, very little confidence is placed in the various solutions offered. Same punishment for the ability of public authorities to actually prevent minors from accessing these sites. Only 17% of French people think this is achievable.

If this figure is so low, it is because regular or occasional users of adult sites have already devised solutions. Aware that it will be difficult to comprehensively block all sites offering pornographic content, the first instinct will be to look for sites that have slipped through the cracks.

VPNs Could Bypass Restrictions Through ISPs

Those most aware of Internet practices intend to adopt the same methods as users in countries applying more intensive censorship on the Internet by using VPNs or modifying DNS. If a site is blocked by access providers on government orders, it will only be blocked for French users connecting from France.

VPNs for "virtual private networks" allow users to pass their communications on computers based in other countries. For them, the operation is transparent and access to the site is unblocked, as may be the case for certain sites, such as those allowing access to the replay of foreign channels.

VPNs thus make any form of access control useless since the person who connects through them is not considered a French resident. The principle is the same for the change of DNS, a system putting the Internet user in contact with the website, if the filtering is based at this level with the access providers.

Already more than 40% of respondents are aware of this workaround and intend to use it to avoid revealing their identity to consult adult sites.

The task of the government therefore promises to be tough, as is that of those who will be responsible for putting restrictions in place. Two years ago, the United Kingdom had also tried to set up such a system but ended up throwing in the towel in the face of the problems that the implementation of the solutions could cause in terms of privacy.