Compulsory age checks for online adult material will affect millions of viewers

Internet users across the US hoping to access online porn site could soon face strict age checks, with Louisiana becoming the first state to implement the technology and seven other states rushing to follow suit.

Similar restrictions have been on the back burner in the UK for some time, with legislation introduced as part of the 2017 Digital Economy Act, before being mothballed in 2019 – largely because of potential clashes with data protection rules.

But there are no such barriers in the US, and legislators in Florida, Arkansas, Kansas, South Dakota, Mississippi and West Virginia are all reportedly bringing in online age checks over the coming months.

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The moves will affect millions of internet users – as well as companies that make millions of dollars out of online pornography.

The Louisiana law relates to sites where a “substantial portion” 0 33.33 percent or more – of the material on the site is “harmful to minors".

Republican senator Jessica Castleberry, who sponsored the bill in South Dakota, expressed her frustration that the legislation was being delayed in her state because some politicians had been too “easily swayed by powerful lobbyists” in the porn industry.

She stressed that too many people discussing the subject were unaware of what kind of material was freely available online: "This is not your daddy's Playboy,” she told Ars Technica. “Extreme, degrading, and violent pornography is only one click away from our children.”

Most of the bills making their way through state legislatures are carbon copies of the successful Louisiana legislation.

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It stipulates that any site where more than a third of its content is potentially “harmful to minors” is required to perform an age check.

The law defines harm to minors with a long list of forbidden images and acts, including “pubic hair, anus, vulva, genitals, or nipple of the female breast; Touching, caressing, or fondling of nipples, breasts, buttocks, anuses, or genitals; sexual intercourse, masturbation, sodomy, bestiality, oral copulation; flagellation, excretory functions, exhibitions, or any other sexual act”.

It goes to make exceptions for site that have “serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value”.

Pornhub started requiring users who log in from a Louisiana-based IP address to verify their age, but it’s been pointed out by web experts that it’s relatively easy to mask a computer’s location using a VPN.

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