Age Verification Laws Meet VPNs and Lawsuits in a War Over Speech and Privacy
Thwarted for years by the liberating power of the internet, social conservatives have resumed their crusade against sexually explicit material through age verification requirements. While sold as a means of ensuring that only adults access adult-oriented websites, the laws require people to abandon anonymity and expose potentially sensitive personal information. The browsing public has responded with lawsuits and an embrace of technology that bypasses restrictions. That may not be enough.
Government Pushes Parents Aside to Determine Which Websites are Appropriate
“This is something that I believe will save the current generation and generations to come if we’re successful,” Florida House Speaker Paul Renner (R–Palm Coast) commented last March upon the passage of HB-3. The bill, which Gov. Ron DeSantis subsequently signed, went into effect January 1. It bans access to pornographic websites for those under 18 years of age. It also forbids those under 14 from opening social media accounts (14- and 15-year-olds can do so with parental permission).
While people argue over whether government officials or parents should be deciding what minors can see and read on the internet, there’s general agreement that at least some material is inappropriate for kids. The trick for those who want the government to act and who pushed the passage of HB3 in Florida and similar legislation elsewhere is determining the age of people browsing websites.
Louisiana, which pioneered the flurry of age-verification laws, has a digital version of its driver’s license called the LA Wallet. That digital ID can be used to establish a web browser’s age to the satisfaction of the law, while also revealing the holder’s identity. Most states don’t have anything like the LA Wallet.
“In states without a digital identification program like Louisiana’s, porn sites must pay third-party age-verification providers to use software to compare a user’s face with their ID photo, held up to the camera, or to use AI to determine if their face looks obviously older than 18,” The Atlantic‘s Marc Novicoff noted in a recent article on such laws.
That’s clumsy, at best. It’s also an added expense that can lead to legal liability for websites if they make mistakes in
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