Beta Digital Wallet aka «strawport»: Government restricts porn access

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Cartera Digital Beta, pajaporte, pornopasaporte... There are several names, some with a humorous tone, with which this recent idea of the Spanish Government, announced at the beginning of July by the Minister José Luis Escrivá, has been baptised. The Beta Digital Wallet will be a mobile application that will serve as a means of authentication on the network. The purpose of the “straw passport” is to restricting minors' access to adult content, i.e. pornographic.

This digital project is not just an idea, but a reality that has been in the making since its tender in July 2022. The design of the application has already been completed, leaving only the development phase, which is expected to last two months. The Digital Wallet Beta should therefore be available for distribution by the end of this summer.

How does the Digital Portfolio Beta work?

What this application does is securely storing a Government-issued coming-of-age credential, with which the user can prove that they are over 18 years of age. To generate it, users must identify themselves using their electronic ID card, the Cl@ve Pin system or an electronic certificate.

Once the user has registered his or her age and generated an anonymous credential through the Beta Digital Wallet, he or she will be able to access adult content websites. To verify the age of majority, the user will simply need to scan a QR code with your mobile phone camera. This QR code, generated by the application, will allow the website to confirm whether the user is of legal age, presumably without revealing any personal information.

The application is also designed to manage other credentials, The credentials are also stored securely in the app and can be verified using similar QR codes. These credentials are also securely stored in the app and can be verified using similar QR codes.

In terms of access management, the National Institute of Cybersecurity (INCIBE) will collaborate with other social agents to maintain a list of sites with adult content that are not under Spanish jurisdiction. However, the restriction of the pornopassport only Spanish pornographic websites should apply it., The new law, which would mean that famous porn sites such as Pornhub and Redtube would still be fully accessible.

Each credential issued will have a validity of 30 days and a limited number of times on each adult content platform. In principle, up to 30 anonymous credentials can be issued every 30 days. Users will be able to use each one up to three times on the same platform.

The application also implements biometric security additional features, such as facial recognition, to ensure that only the owner of the phone can access the application and manage his or her credentials.

The Ministry of Digital Transformation has published a video explaining the broad outline of how the Digital Portfolio Beta works:

Why do you want to create a pornopassport?

According to Escrivá, the Spanish government wants to implement the Digital Portfolio Beta mainly for protect minors from accessing inappropriate content, specifically to adult content sites. This is an issue of social and ethical concern, as easy access to such content has a negative influence on the development and well-being of young people.

In general, Escrivá alludes to the fact that the exposure of pornography in minors generates unrealistic expectations about sex and relationships, and even harmful. Pornography contributes to a view reification of people and an eroticised conception of others. In many cases, there are certain aggressive and degrading acts in much of the pornographic content that drive minors to engage in inappropriate or aggressive sexual behaviour.

In order to understand the scale of the problem of access to child pornography, sources close to the Spanish government, such as the media outlet Newtral, have provided the following data:

  • According to the study by the Queen Sofia FAD Centre, 45% of young people saw pornography for the first time between the ages of 12 and 15.

  • The same study indicates that 23.5% of young people had their first contact with pornography before the age of 12.

  • The average age of first access to pornography is 13 years old.

  • In most cases, this first contact with pornography was via the Internet, with 64.71% of young people accessing it via the Internet.

  • According to the Save the Children 2020 study, 68.2% of 13-17 year olds viewed pornography in the last 30 days.

  • A 2023 publication by researchers from the University of the Balearic Islands and the Ramon Llull University reveals that 81% of adolescents between 13 and 18 years of age says he only watches pornography occasionally or a few times a week.

  • The same publication indicates that 18.2% of adolescents aged 13-18 acknowledge frequent, i.e. daily, use of pornography.

  • According to a figure provided by the Government and based on the Save the Children study, 7 out of 10 adolescents, that is, a 70%, regularly consume pornography in Spain.

The Digital Portfolio Beta initiative is in line with the European Union's efforts to make the virtual environment a safer and healthier place for minors, a common concern reflected in the Leuven Declaration.

Privacy: people's main reluctance towards the Beta Digital Wallet

The implementation of the Beta Digital Wallet raises concerns (in our view, entirely legitimate) about the privacy and the possible widespread use of technology to increase government control over citizens.

While the government claims that the credentials the mobile app shares with websites are anonymous, these logins are still recorded along with our credentials, stored in a huge data repository in the hands of public institutions.

In addition, concerns extend to the possibility that the use of this application will not be limited to verification of age of majority on adult content sites. There is a fear that, once implemented, the technology and infrastructure behind the Digital Wallet Beta could extend to other areas of daily life to access public services, participate in civic activities, or even monitor our behaviour and consumption habits.

What has been the reaction of the population to the straw poll?

The nickname that the Beta Digital Wallet has received denotes the reaction of the bulk of the Spanish population to such a striking project: laughter, at best, and indignation in others. While there is a sector of the population that welcomes the implementation of the pajaporte, the majority sentiment that we perceive in social networks is a mixture of indifference and jocularity.

We review some of them viral tweets about the Digital Portfolio Beta:

 

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Pablo Blanco

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