Pornography in the United Kingdom is regulated by a variety of laws, regulations, judicial processes, and voluntary schemes. Pornographic material generally has to be assessed by regulators or courts to determine its legality. The Victorian pornographic tradition included French photographs, erotic prints, and printed literature. As technology has advanced, pornography has taken diverse forms and become more widespread in society. In the twentieth century the production of pornographic magazines and films developed, and by the twenty-first century pornography was available by telephone, on television and via the internet. However, access to pornography has generally been more restricted than it has been in comparable Western countries. By 2006 the UK pornography industry was estimated to be worth about billion, compared to billion worldwide. Legal situation The UK has a markedly different tradition of pornography regulation from that found in most other Western countries, which legalised hardcore pornography during the 1960s and 1970s. By contrast the UK was almost the only liberal democracy not to do so and the UK's obscenity laws, such as the Obscene Publications Act 1959, remained strict by European standards. Other acts of parliament such as the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 and the Video Recordings Act 1984 combined with the Obscene Publications Acts to set the criteria for the types of material that could be publicly accessed and distributed in any form in the UK. Together they created an effective ban on the publication, though not possession, of many types of pornography. However, this legislation was found to be difficult to enforce due to the vagueness of the legal test of material that "depraves and corrupts". The sale of hardcore pornography remained illegal until the end of the 20th century, although the ownership of such material was not a criminal offence. Printed hardcore pornography was banned under the Obscene Publications Act 1959, while hardcore videotapes and DVDs were prohibited due to the requirement under the Video Recordings Act 1984 that such content had to be certified by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC). At the beginning of the 21st century, as a result of liberalisation in BBFC policy, mainstream hardcore DVDs began to receive R18 certificates, legalising them but restricting their sale to licensed sex shops such as those in Soho in London. UK-based websites that stream video content were also made subject to these content standards. European, American and British hardcore pornographic magazines became available