Porthole has temporarily closed.

Hey there,

Thank you so much for using Porthole. It's both a good and weird feeling that I've been able to "help" you all out over the past month.

Unfortunately, I've been advised that in order to keep Porthole running, I need to enforce age verification mechanisms for all adults wanting access to the service. With the primary focus of privacy and anonymity, this contradicts with the original vision of Porthole.

I'm left with a couple of options, either shut Porthole down, or install an age verification system.

The costs of an age verification solution (even if I build my own) would likely introduce some costs to Porthole - making it completely free no longer an option :( It would probably end up being a $4 a month style service instead of free.

So before you head off to buy a VPN, quick question, would you still use Porthole if you had to verify your identity? And would you be comfortable paying for the service at around $4 a month?

Thanks for voting. Recorded.

If you're going to go down the VPN route, I suggest avoiding the larger/well known/established providers, the IP addresses they use are constantly being blocked by adult sites. I recommend going with a smaller VPN service, try Zoog out:

Know anyone who might want to purchase Porthole? Reach out at [email protected] to discuss options.

Stay safe out there, wankers.