The UN’s free speech advocate has warned that British government plans to enforce age verification and some censorship of pornographic websites risk breaking international human rights law and would contribute to a “significant tightening of control over the internet”.

David Kaye, the special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, called on ministers to conduct a comprehensive review of the digital economy bill, which he said facilitated state surveillance and lacked judicial oversight.



The bill, intended to regulate a range of issues relating to the internet and electronic records, also includes measures to increase data sharing between government departments and protect intellectual property.

But it is the measures to control pornography that have sparked an outcry amid fears that they will will create a database of internet users’ sexual proclivities and roll back Britain’s censorship regime to the pre-internet era. If the bill passes it will outlaw the depiction online of a range of legal-to-perform sex acts.

Its passage is highly likely, with support in parliament from both Labour and the Conservatives, and only the Liberal Democrats indicating they will oppose it.

Kaye’s objections focus on the risk posed by age verification requirements to individuals’ privacy. In a letter to the UK’s ambassador to the UN, he says he is concerned that the new rules “fall short of the standards of international human rights law”.

“I am concerned that the age verification provisions give the government access to information of viewing habits and citizen data,” Kaye writes, pointing out that under rules introduced elsewhere in the bill the data could be shared across government and the private sector without consent.

“Identity disclosure requirements in law allow authorities to more easily identify persons, eradicating anonymous expression,” he goes on, adding that such anonymity has been “one of the most important advances facilitated by the internet”.

Kaye says he is also concerned by the lack of judicial oversight given to the role of the age verification regulator, which will be empowered to block websites it judges to have insufficient adequate age checks or which host content that would not be passed for UK DVD release.

“Finally, I express concern at the cumulative effect of the digital economy bill and the Investigatory Powers Act,” Kaye writes. “Together, these two pieces of legislation constitute a significant tightening control over the internet in the UK.

“Therefore, while I am cognisant of the need to protect children against harmful content, I am concerned that the provisions under the bill are not an effective way for achieving this objective as they fall short of the standards of international human rights law.

“The bill contains insufficient procedures without adequate oversight, overly broad definitions and lack of data-sharing safeguards that unduly interferes with the rights of freedom of expression and privacy.”

Jim Killock, the executive director of the Open Rights Group, which has campaigned against the digital economy bill, welcomed Kaye’s comments, which come ahead of House of Lords committee hearings on the bill expected later this month.

“This bill creates huge problems of surveillance and privacy violations,” he said. “We hope the Lords take note of this letter as they try to deal with this extremely messy, badly thought out bill. The age verification scheme is almost certain to go badly wrong as things stand.”

The Conservative MP Claire Perry accused Kaye of using emotive language and said his intervention “really clouds the issue and distracts from an important principle”.

A spokesperson for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, which is behind the bill, said: “These measures will ensure children have the same protections online as they do offline. There is no question of the government collecting data on viewing habits and we are in discussions with the Information Commissioner’s Office to make sure data protection standards are complied with.”