A new law in Louisiana requires all residents to verify their age in order to watch pornography online.
The law, passed earlier this year after being introduced by state Rep. Laurie Schlegel (R), demands users provide government-issued ID prior to accessing any website containing 33.3% or more pornographic material.
Louisiana residents must first set up an account with the service AllPassTrust and upload their driver’s license or state ID. From there, users must sign in to their account before accessing sites such as PornHub or RedTube.
As noted by Louisiana’s WAFB 9News, Schlegel, who also works as a licensed counselor, has defended the law as a necessary measure to hold porn companies accountable.
“Pornography is destroying our children and they’re getting unlimited access to it on the internet and so if the pornography companies aren’t going to be responsible, I thought we need to go ahead and hold them accountable,” Schlegel said.
Supporters of the law argue that such measures are already required when accessing other sites online such as gambling services. And although the state promises that the age verification system does not collect and store users’ birth dates, home addresses, or information about their electronic devices, opponents argue that the program is ripe for abuse.
Given that many prominent websites such as Twitter and Reddit also feature porn, questions abound over whether those services will at some point require age verification as well.
Schlegel has stated that the law requires all affected websites to set up an age verification portal. Those who fail to do so could face legal action.
“Someone could sue on behalf of their child; they can sue if children are getting access to pornography,” she added. “So, it would be up to the user to sue the company for not verifying age first.”
In response to the law online, users noted that tools such as VPNs could easily allow anyone to bypass age restrictions by rerouting their internet connection to another state or country. It also remains unclear how Louisiana will determine which websites contain more than 33.3% of pornographic material.
