C ome July 15, 2019, internet users in Britain attempting to visit major pornography sites will be confronted with a question: How old are you? Then, a follow-up: Can you prove it?

They’ll have a few options. Users can verify their age online, by submitting official government IDs or credit card information. Or they can walk into a store and establish their eligibility to access porn the old-fashioned way: by handing money and identification over to a human being, at a participating store, in exchange for a pass.

The British government has touted its mandatory age check as a “world-first” that will help make Britain the “safest place in the world to be online,” particularly for children. It has been less vocal about the precise manner in which these rules will be enforced. Just a few months out, and after multiple embarrassing delays, this is very much a work in progress.

What is taking shape is an enforcement regime made up not just of actual regulators and quasi-regulators but also major pornographers. It is a system that may not only fail to accomplish the law’s stated purpose (to keep children from stumbling upon adult content), but which also risks being captured by the biggest name in online porn, a multinational streaming conglomerate called MindGeek.