Technology consultant Maximus Ametorgoh has opposed proposals to require Ghanaians to verify their age using national identification cards before accessing pornographic websites, arguing that an outright ban on such platforms would be more effective and easier to implement.

Speaking on Joy FM's Midday News, Mr Ametorgoh said while protecting children from harmful online content is a legitimate objective, requiring citizens to submit national ID details to adult websites raises significant technological and privacy concerns.

“The whole idea of protecting children is sensible and absolutely the right thing to do,” he said.

“For me, if I want to protect my child, I will block the website entirely.”

Mr Ametorgoh described the proposed age-verification system as difficult to implement in Ghana, warning that it would require sophisticated technological infrastructure that may not currently exist.

According to him, any website seeking to verify a user's age through a national ID card would need to collect personal information, authenticate the identification document and connect to systems capable of validating the information provided.

“If I go on a site that requires an ID card to verify my age, there are two things. It has to collect that data, make sure the ID I am presenting is authentic, and then authenticate it through a system that can verify the information submitted to confirm my age,” he explained.

“That is a lot of technology which we do not have and cannot implement easily.”

He argued that the proposal places excessive emphasis on verification when simpler alternatives could be considered.

“For adult content websites, for me, this is overkill,” he said.

Mr Ametorgoh suggested that if government considers such websites harmful to minors, it should focus on blocking access to them entirely rather than requiring citizens to submit personal identification information.

“Either Ghana is blocking it, or we are preventing people from visiting that website,” he said.

He also raised concerns about the privacy implications of requiring users to submit national identification documents to websites, many of which operate outside Ghana's jurisdiction.

According to him, it remains unclear who would regulate the collection, storage and use of such sensitive personal information.

“Submitting an ID card is like saying all those adult websites should collect the IDs of Ghanaians, and that borders on privacy,” he said.

“If I submit my ID card to a website hosted outside Ghana, who controls that data? Are they going to register every adult content website as data controllers?”

Mr Ametorgoh warned that the proposal could inadvertently expose Ghanaians to identity theft and data abuse.

He argued that unscrupulous individuals could exploit the policy by creating websites designed primarily to harvest identification data from unsuspecting users.

“If I wanted to build an ID repository, I would simply create an adult website knowing that Ghana is asking people to submit ID cards,” he said.

“I would collect the ID information and use it for purposes other than granting access to the website.”

He further noted that monitoring compliance and ensuring the proper use of collected data across thousands of websites would be extremely difficult.

“Controlling that is going to be difficult,” he stated.

Mr Ametorgoh maintained that restricting access altogether would be more effective than leaving the content available online while relying on verification measures.

“You cannot say you do not want your child to smoke and then leave a cigarette in the kitchen and expect the child not to smoke,” he said.

His comments come after the Minister for Communications, Digital Technology and Innovation, Samuel Nartey George, revealed that government is considering introducing mandatory national ID verification before access is granted to pornographic websites.

The Minister made the disclosure during the Fourth Inter-Parliamentary Conference on Family, Values and Sovereignty, where he said the proposal forms part of efforts to protect children from harmful online content.

The proposal has received support from child rights advocates and child protection organisations, who argue that stronger safeguards are needed to prevent minors from accessing explicit material online.