Protecting children from obscene content

Our take: British regulators have fined Playboy $160,000 for failure to take the necessary precautions to protect minors from accessing adult content. In an article for Gigaom.com, Jeff John Roberts reports on the fine and also makes an eye-opening discovery: In a time when the U.K.'s obscenity laws seem to be getting tougher by focusing on protecting minors, the debate in the U.S. seems to be moving in a different direction.

British regulators fined Playboy nearly $160,000 after finding the publisher didnt do enough to prevent minors from visiting its website. In a statement issued on Wednesday, the agency Ofcom said Playboys failure to protect children ... was serious, repeated and reckless.

In deciding to fine Playboy, Ofcom also concluded that requiring visitors click an "Enter I am over 18" button was not an effective age verification system.

Read more about protecting minors on Gigaom.