The recent launch of the SeeSaw, the British TV-on-demand service featuring content from the BBC, Channel 4 and Channel 5 (but not ITV yet), is another nail in the coffin of 'the watershed'. And if I were writing for the Daily Mail I would say this is a gross dereliction of duty on behalf of the broadcasters.
This quaint convention meant that 'adult' content would not be aired until after nine o'clock in the evening. This gave parents some reassurance that they could settle down together in front of the telly with their kids without fear of the little cherubs being corrupted by 'unsuitable' content. Of course, one person's idea of unsuitable is another's idea of prudish, but as a general rule the convention worked well enough.
The rise of digital 'on-demand' technology - what the jargon-meisters call non-linear TV - has blown this convention out of the water. Now kids of any age can watch programmes via video-on-demand services like SeeSaw and BBC iPlayer that may feature adult content just so long as they click a box declaring that they are 16/18 or over.
How on earth can this be deemed morally responsible behaviour? Children in the intimacy of their own bedrooms on laptops their parents think are for homework only brush aside such flimsy attempts at behavioural control without a moment's thought. What I find offensive is the farcical pretence on the part of broadcasters that this constitutes 'due diligence' .
Either scrap age limits altogther and put the onus squarely on the shoulders of parents to monitor their children's digital consumption, or put in place more stringent identity controls as mobile phone companies have to do by law. It's perfectly possible. More simply, Channel 4 operates a PIN system to give parents control over access to adult content. Digital TV user guides offer the same facility. So why can't the other broadcasters adopt a similar system for their on-demand services?
Putting the onus entirely on parents may please the libertarian caucus that deplores any attempt at moral control by the 'nanny state', but it is a high-risk strategy. Research by Ofcom has found that half of all children aged 8-11 and two-thirds of those aged 12-15 mostly use the internet without an adult present. And most parents are still woefully ignorant about the whole subject of e-security as it is.
Whatever the solution, this current half-way house 'one-click age verification' is just hypocritical, pointless nonsense.
