Correction: Britain-Porn Block story

LONDON (AP) — In a story July 10 about Britain's planned online "porn block," The Associated Press reported erroneously that James Clark was the spokesman for MindGeek. He is the AgeID spokesman.

A corrected version of the story is below:

UK plan to control online porn is watched as test case

The global push to more tightly regulate the internet is spreading to one of the web's biggest and least visible corners: porn

By KELVIN CHAN

AP Business Writer

LONDON (AP) — The global push to more tightly regulate the internet and big tech firms is spreading to one of the web's biggest and least visible corners: porn.

The British government wants to require porn websites to verify their users are adults. The effort is being watched by other countries hoping to better regulate pornographic content but has raised concerns about privacy, censorship and competition. It has run into multiple delays that reflect the confusion surrounding it.

"It's a mess," said Jim Killock, of the London-based Open Rights Group, a digital civil liberties group.

Killock says the government's blueprints for its online "porn block" don't do enough to protect personal data. Others believe the plan amounts to economic censorship. And many fear the rules would effectively give more power to a little known company that dominates the internet porn industry.

Under the plan, which is now expected to come into force late this year, British porn site visitors will be asked to prove they are 18 or older. Options to do so would include buying a card with an access code in a shop, where they will have to show photo ID, or going online to submit a copy of a passport or driver's license or use a credit card.

The British government isn't operating the system itself. Instead, it's being outsourced to private...