Page 51 - AVN February 2018

AgeChecked
Alastair Graham founded AgeChecked and remains the CEO of the company.
You may have met Alastair recently at one of the major adult trade shows, but he
is somewhat of an outsider in the porn world. An entrepreneur with more than 20
years experience launching business solutions in heavily regulated markets prior
to founding AgeChecked, he was deeply involved in the payments industry for
more than a decade and co-founded a prepaid card company while also heading
up a financial institution. Regarding age verification in the UK, Graham has been
directly involved with the development of the legislation itself. He is part the
Digital Policy Alliance Age Verification Working Group and the British Standards
Institute’s Steering Committee for the Publicly Available Specification on age
checking.
“Online alcohol, tobacco and gambling all have restrictions that apply now,”
explained Graham. “The gambling guys have identity requirements, but the lottery
folks are lagging behind. Really, everyone is looking to what will become ‘the adult
content solution’ as a guide for their own industries. Pressure is now mounting on
these industries—the Department of Culture, Media and Sport recently published
a green paper on age restrictions online. As a general theme it suggests that if it’s
age-restricted offline, it should be age-restricted online. So, I’m already starting to
see some doubling down on the Digital Economy Act, even before it comes into
full effect.”
The primary distinction of the AgeChecked solution is that it is entirely free
for consumers to use. An interstitial security page is added to an adult paysite at
the point of sale requesting that the consumer enter their verification ID number,
or enabling them to quickly acquire one by choosing one of several methods and
providing the legally required documentation online.
AgeChecked merchants will incur a small service fee based on the volume of
customers that need verifying. The company is banking on the idea that the small
fee per customer billed to a merchant will be far more appealing to consumers
than any additional expense charged to them directly at the point of sale.
Merchants also are able to simply raise their price a small amount to compensate
for the expense in order to remain revenue neutral while continuing to give
consumers the most frictionless path to converting without the perception of any
additional fees.
AVSecure
Owned and operated by Steve Winyard, AVSecure is no stranger to the adult
industry or large-scale regulatory changes. For the last seven years, Winyard has
been a main board director and vice president of ICM Registry with responsibility
for the company’s global sales and strategy. ICM Registry is the company
responsible for the creation of the .XXX domain name extension. Winyard has
been active at adult shows for years and ushered in the .porn and .adult TLDs as
well, during what has become a wide field of new extensions seeking mass appeal.
Prior to his work with ICM, Steve founded Oneview.net PLC and Destiny PLC in
other verticals. In addition, he has been a Council member and advisor to the UK
Government with the Digital Policy Alliance that meets in the House of Lords in
Westminster, frequently.
AVSecure intends to distribute age verification cards available at 30,000 local
shops throughout the UK, which can be purchased, for a fee during a face-to-face
transaction with a store clerk by consumers. Each card will use a blockchain-
encrypted age verification ID number that can later be entered on the AVSecure
website, separating the verification process from the point of sale adult site in an
attempt to secure the anonymity of the consumer online. The blockchain system
of AVSecure also enables consumers to manage access on their local devices,
without an unrelated remote network. The consumer’s browser becomes the
central point in the process, rather than the server or network of content providers
or identity providers. Buying a card will cost the consumer £10 as a one-time fee
if they want the additional identity protection. Consumers will also be able to
choose to verify their age via other methods that leave a footprint, but would be
able to do so absolutely free.
“With AVSecure the only thing anyone can pay for is a blockchain-protected
age verification card at a retail shop,” Winyard said. “Other than that we don’t
charge merchants or consumers anything. We assume a percentage of the 50
million people will opt for that rather than enter any personal data and for us
it’s all about giving people as much choice as possible. Ninety-five percent may
choose personal data with only 5 percent buying the card and we would be fine
with that. Even if nobody buys the card we are fine. AVSecure has a very long-term
view and we believe having millions of users will always be valuable
FEATURE
somewhere somehow at some point.”
On the plus side AVSecure promises to be entirely free for the merchant and
intends to provide free options for consumers. The downside of course is that it
does create some friction if consumers mistakenly believe a paid card is required,
and merchants may see the “it’s all free so we can acquire millions of members to
be monetized somehow at a later point in time” as a problematic hypothetical as
well.
“WITH AVSECURE THE ONLY THING
ANYONE CAN PAY FOR IS A BLOCK-
CHAIN PROTECTED AGE VERIFICA-
TION CARD AT A RETAIL SHOP.”
—STEVE WINYARD, CEO, AVSECURE
AgeID
AgeID is an authentication platform and age verification solution, built by
MindGeek, the same company famous for its massively successful tube sites that
include Pornhub, RedTube and YouPorn along with a long list of other properties
well known to everyone working in adult online. For starters, the AgeID system is
already operable in Germany restricting adult content for the German audience.
When the UK government announced its pledge in 2015 requiring age
verification for pornography sites, MindGeek formed a distinct unit housed in
the UK to develop and manage a solution designed to meet regulatory guidelines,
online adult business needs, and the viewing public’s demand for seamless
browsing.
The involvement of Mindgeek in the process has stoked a lot of interest
beyond the confines of the adult industry. In a recent Engadget article, adult site
owner Pandora Blake was quoted as saying that the UK government has “written
Mindgeek a blank check,” claiming “smaller sites like mine will effectively have
to pay a ‘Mindgeek tax’ to our biggest competitor.” Blake, who calls herself “The
Kinky Feminist Pornographer” on her website, also published her opinion about
AgeID in an extensive blog post on her website.
Catherine Dunn, VP of global communications for MindGeek, explained, “site
owners will pay a flat monthly fee based on an estimate of their UK traffic. It will
be charged on a sliding scale to ensure it’s affordable for sites of all sizes. It’s
critical that everyone in the adult community comply with the regulations in any
manner that will have minimal impact on their users.”
While some have voiced concerns about a consolidation of power, Mindgeek
does not anticipate that sort of outcome and sees the age verification process
offered by AgeID as the best path for porn to take because it would be the
simplest and most direct method thanks in large part to the market share Pornhub
has already attracted.
When interviewed by Engadget, Pornhub VP Corey Price remarked, “We do
not believe that age verification costs should be passed on to customers,” as he
expressed AgeID’s intention to be “completely free to all users.” He also reiterated
that Mindgeek plans to license AgeID to all adult content providers “in a fair, cost-
effective manner, based on the size of their UK traffic.”
The possibility of AgeID becoming dominant is bolstered by the fact that, other
than platforms like Facebook, Amazon and Netflix—Pornhub is probably the most
popular destination on the Internet, with an undeniable global brand presence.
The company has also repeatedly demonstrated a willingness to use its enormous
financial capital to make things happen. However, the countervailing pressure in
this particular endeavor is also palpable, due to a large number of transgressors
within the porn world and the fact that age verification law will extend to other
sectors like gambling, alcohol and others who may be less accepting of “a porn
company” handling all age verification methodology.
Given the fact that a pool of many millions of potential adult consumers are
at stake and the widely held belief that the UK is just the first of many countries
who will soon adopt some form of age verification laws, the stakes are extremely
high and the outcome will impact every aspect of the adult industry in one way
or another eventually. Getting to know the people involved, comprehending the
legal requirements and adapting to the new paradigm as early as possible may be
the only way to secure the audience you already have, and to build momentum for
your brands on a global stage in the future.
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