- Sure, let me hand over my driver’s license to see some boobies.
Louisiana residents looking to treat the funk of the morning after New Year’s with a date with Mrs. Palm and her five daughters were in for a surprise. Instead of online smut, their browsers displayed a mind-boggling message.
Trying to access porn sites in Louisiana now brings up a request to submit your ID for review.
That’s thanks to a new law that came into effect in the Pelican State on January 1, 2023. House Bill #142 now requires pornographic websites to verify their users’ ages with a government-issued ID.
According to the law, if 33.3% or more of a website’s content consists of naughty materials, it “shall be held liable if the entity fails to perform reasonable age verification methods to verify the age of individuals attempting to access the material.”
If they don’t, the legislation states that individuals can sue the website for “damages resulting from a minor’s accessing the material.” So, the state of Louisiana won’t be shutting the sites down, but they may set themselves up for lawsuits.
You might be somewhat hesitant to link your official ID to your favorite porn site account. It’s okay, though — the law prohibits any parties performing the age verification from retaining any identifying information.
Boy, that sure puts our minds at ease.
‘Not Your Daddy’s Playboy’
The goal of the law, as you may have guessed, is to protect underage children from being exposed to what it calls “material harmful to minors.” The text, however, makes it very clear that the law is aimed primarily at pornography.
“Pornography is creating a public health crisis and having a corroding influence on minors. … Pornography contributes to the hyper-sexualization of teens and prepubescent children and may lead to low self-esteem, body image disorders, an increase in problematic sexual activity at younger ages, and increased desire among adolescents to engage in risky sexual behavior.”
The text continues to state that porn may also “impact brain development and functioning” and lead to “deviant sexual arousal,” among other maladies.
The mastermind of the law is Representative Laurie Schlegel. She sees the mostly unrestricted access to online porn as a serious risk.
“Online pornography is extreme and graphic and only one click away from our children. This is not your daddy’s Playboy,” Rep. Schlegel wrote on Twitter.
“And if pornography companies refuse to be responsible, then we must hold them accountable. This law is a first step.”
Problems on the Horizon
Now, we’re not saying that we shouldn’t protect children from adult materials — that’s a noble goal. But even just a brief reading of the law makes you question whether it’s been thought through.
There are multiple gray areas and vague wordings with HB 142. Let’s begin with that 33.3% limit on pornographic content.
We assume that the limit is there to protect sites like Twitter or Google that aren’t intended for hosting porn but don’t ban it. But how do you calculate the porno percentage of a website?
Let’s say you have a porn site that displays nothing but smut to the user. But the host can prove that on the backend, only 33.2% of its server space is adult entertainment — the rest is filled with pictures of kittens. The pictures just aren’t immediately accessible to users.
Is that website violating the law? The text only defines the porn percentage in the terms of “total material on a website,” which leaves itself open to interpretation.
Also, how will this law be enforced against porn sites outside the U.S.? Let’s say that a porn site is hosted in a country actively hostile to America. We kind of doubt they’d comply.
Finally, there’s this thing called a virtual private network, or VPN. In case you don’t know what that is, a VPN can encrypt your connection and make web services think it’s coming from elsewhere.
So, with a press of a button, you can make a website believe you’re accessing it from Oklahoma, not Louisiana, and it won’t bring up the ID prompt. Is this allowed? The law doesn’t say.
And finally, there’s the issue of giving your ID to a porn site. Sure, the law says no-no on them retaining your personal info, but when has that ever stopped anyone?
Not Just Louisiana
Despite its issues, the Louisiana law is here to stay, at least for the time being. And it’s not like Louisiana is the first place to do such a thing.
Similar laws have been proposed elsewhere in the world, including the U.K. and Australia. The U.K. law is particularly relevant since, despite being popular in the parliament, it was killed off due to concerns over privacy protections.
There’s also an effort to get a law like Louisiana’s into effect all across America. Senator Mike Lee from Utah has introduced the SCREEN Act (Shielding Children’s Retinas from Egregious Exposure on the Net).
If enacted, the law would put in place a U.S.-wide age verification system to access porn sites. Proponents say the measure is necessary to safeguard children, while its opponents say it’s an assault on free speech.
In the meanwhile, if you enjoy free internet porn, you might want to get your fill before any such laws go through. Unless you’re in Louisiana.
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