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The government's plans to introduce mandatory age verification for people visiting pornography websites could backfire and expose the UK to more cybercrime, experts have warned.
Academic researchers and technology experts have warned the measures - which come into effect in April 2018 - will not necessarily protect children from online pornography.
Instead, the move could put government ministers and other high-profile figures at risk of blackmail if their embarrassing habits were observed by hackers.
Jim Killock, the executive director at Open Rights Group, warned that "age verification could lead to porn companies building databases of the UK's porn habits, which could be vulnerable to Ashley Madison style hacks."
"The Government has repeatedly refused to ensure that there is a legal duty for age verification providers to protect the privacy of web users," he added.
Adult websites are regularly targets for hackers due to the behaviour of their visitors, whom criminals might expect to be ashamed and therefore easier to scam.
In 2015, adultery dating website Ashley Madison was hit by an enormous data breach, losing individuals' extremely sensitive data.
The parent company behind that site this week settled with former users after a number of lawsuits, paying out $11.2m (£8.57m) on the grounds that it had not protected their data properly.
Dr Victoria Nash of the Oxford Internet Institute, who was the lead author of a report on how to protect children online which was commissioned as the new checks were being developed, told Sky News she had questions regarding the law.
She said: "Database hacks are still common, and the information being collected across pornography sites could be stolen and used to blackmail politicians or other high-profile figures.
"Our report notably did not conclude that age verification would have a significant impact on children viewing pornography online.
"It may address the number of children stumbling across it, but it would not deter those who want to directly access it, nor will it address the issue of the coerced creation of images," she added.
The law will also create a watchdog role which will be able to fine any pornography sites which fail to verify their visitors' ages. Non-compliant websites could even face being blocked by internet service providers.
"Age verification risks failure as it attempts to fix a social problem with technology," said Mr Killock.
Dr Nash added: "As a parent as well as a researcher, I'm proud that the UK does take child safety online seriously.
"I would like to see more of a focus on the social issues as well as the technology issues.
"This is not just about making websites harder to access, but about a very sexualised culture - children can come across very sexualised material in Game of Thrones and Rihanna videos - and about how our education system, and parenting should respond to that."
(SKY NEWS)
