Federal censorship…US senator introduces national internet censorship bill requiring age/ID verification for porn sites

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See article from avn.com

US Senator Mike Lee, R-UT, has reintroduced a bill in the U.S. Senate that would make it federal law for all adult websites to verify their users’ ages.The bizarrely titled Shielding Children’s Retinas from Egregious Exposure on the Net (SCREEN) Act would require all pornography and adult entertainment websites with users in the United States to deploy reasonable age verification methods from third-party providers. Supporters of the bill include software company Envoc, which provides ID verification software and anti-porn groups, such as the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, National Decency Coalition, Enough Is Enough, and Culture Reframed. House Representative Mary Miller, R-Ill., introduced a companion bill in the House of Representatives. The SCREEN Act requires the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) enforce elements of the bill that would require a porn site, like Pornhub, xHamster, and Xvideos, to verify ages. FTC is also required to conduct regular audits of the parent companies affected by the act to ensure compliance and to promulgate rules based on the statutes of the bill if it were to become law.The SCREEN Act competes with the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA). This requires an expansive overhaul of trust and safety protocols for web platforms. If adopted into law, KOSA would require Congress to coordinate with the executive branch, namely the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, to review the benefits and shortcomings of nationwide age verification requirements for websites.

Making Britain the unsafest place in the world to be online…

The Online Censorship Bill passes its final parliamentary hurdle.

Read more uk_internet_censors.htm at MelonFarmers.co.uk

See article from newscientist.com

The UK’s disgraceful Online Safety Bill has passed through Parliament and will soon become law. The wide-ranging legislation, which is likely to affect every internet user in the UK and any service they access, and generate mountains of onerous red tape for any internet business stupid enough to be based in Britain. Potential impacts are still unclear and some of the new regulations are technologically impossible to comply with.A key sticking point is what the legislation means for end-to-end encryption, a security technique used by services like WhatsApp that mathematically guarantees that no one, not even the service provider, can read messages sent between two users. The new law gives regulator Ofcom the power to intercept and check this encrypted data for illegal or harmful content. Using this power would require service providers to create a backdoor in their software, allowing Ofcom to bypass the mathematically secure encryption. But this same backdoor would be abused by hackers, thieves, scammers and malicious states to snoop, steal and hack. Beyond encryption, the bill also brings in mandatory age checks on pornography websites and requires that websites have policies in place to protect people from harmful or illegal content. What counts as illegal and exactly which websites will fall under the scope of the bill is unclear, however.Neil Brown at law firm decoded.legal says Ofcom still has a huge amount of work to do. The new law could plausibly affect any company that allows comments on its website, publishes user-generated content, transmits encrypted data or hosts anything that the government deems may be harmful to children, says Brown: What I’m fearful of is that there are going to be an awful lot of people, small organisations – not these big tech giants — who are going to face pretty chunky legal bills trying to work out if they are in scope and, if so, what they need to do.

The time is not yet right for age verification for porn…

The Australian Government finds that age assurance technologies are immature, and present privacy, security, implementation and enforcement risk.

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See article from infrastructure.gov.au See report [pdf] from infrastructure.gov.au

The Australian Government has been researching the way forward for age verification requirements for porn websites. Unlike the UK government who only ‘think about the children’, the Australian Government have also been thinking of the data protection and security risks to porn users who’s ID data will inevitably find its way into the wrong hands.The government writes in surprisingly hard hitting report. The Roadmap to Age Verification is a document produced by Australia’s eSafety Commissioner. The document includes the paragraph: The Roadmap finds age assurance technologies are immature, and present privacy, security, implementation and enforcement risks ‘Age verification’ describes measures which could determine a person’s age to a high level of accuracy, such as by using official government identity documents. However, the Roadmap examines the use of broader ‘age assurance’ technologies which include measures that perform ‘age estimation’ functions. The Roadmap notes action already underway by industry to introduce and improve age assurance and finds that the market for age assurance products is immature, but developing. It is clear from the Roadmap that at present, each type of age verification or age assurance technology comes with its own privacy, security, effectiveness and implementation issues. For age assurance to be effective, it must: • work reliably without circumvention; • be comprehensively implemented, including where pornography is hosted outside of Australia’s jurisdiction; and • balance privacy and security, without introducing risks to the personal information of adults who choose to access legal pornography. Age assurance technologies cannot yet meet all these requirements. While industry is taking steps to further develop these technologies, the Roadmap finds that the age assurance market is, at this time, immature. The Roadmap makes clear that a decision to mandate age assurance is not ready to be taken.

The US state of Arkansas enacts an internet censorship law to mandate ID verification for both porn and social media

Arkansas recently passed the Social Media Safety Act , which requires every person to verify their age before they can access existing social media accounts or create new ones. If a user cannot show they are at least 18 years old using a commercially reasonable age verification method — potentially including biometric screening or requiring government-issued ID — the law requires them to obtain parental consent to use social media.

If allowed to go into effect, the Arkansas law would prohibit users from accessing social media anonymously or under a pen name. Age verification requirements can deter even adults from engaging on social media because they worry about sharing additional personal data with social media companies, which could misuse the information or get hacked. And those who don’t have government-issued identification — undocumented immigrants, for example — might be unable to access social media at all. Additionally, the parental consent requirement violates kids’ rights to speak and receive information as well as adults’ right to hear what they have to say.

The American Civil Liberties Union is challenging the law saying:

We urge the Western District of Arkansas to protect adults’ and kids’ right to access social media. We all have the right to speak and read about everything from upcoming protests to violin tips to challenging Arkansas’ law.

Meanwhile Pornhab as responded to the new law by blocking all access from IP addresses associated with Arkansas.

The Arkansas law, SB 66, doesn’t ban Pornhub from operating in the state, but it requires porn sites to verify that a user is 18 by confirming their age with identifying documents. Pornhub blocked all traffic from IP addresses based in Arkansas in protest, arguing that the law, which was intended to protect children, actually harms users. The blocked website currently just displays a message explaining the actions:

A trade group representing US porn producers files a legal challenge to Louisiana’s censorship law requiring age verification

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See press release from avn.com See legal challenge [pdf] from action.freespeechcoalition.com

Adult industry trade group the Free Speech Coalition (FSC) has announced that it has filed a lawsuit in Louisiana challenging the law that went into effect there January 1 of this year requiring age-verification to access online adult content. Free Speech Coalition, the advocacy organization for the adult industry, has filed a legal challenge in Louisiana over the state’s unconstitutional age-verification law. The Louisiana law gives the state the power to fine sites with adult content up to $5,000 per day, a direct violation of the First Amendment. FSC filed a similar suit against the state of Utah in May. Joining Free Speech Coalition in filing the challenge are Elizabeth Hanson, a military veteran and spouse of an active-duty Coast Guard member residing in Slidell; Andrea Barrica, founder of the sex education site O.school; journalist, educator, and content creator Charyn Ryn Pfeuffer; and fan platform JustFor.Fans. The parties are represented by Jeffrey Sandman of Webb Daniel Friedlander LLP and D. Gill Sperlein of the Law Office of D. Gill Sperlein. These laws give the state the power to harass and censor legal businesses, says Alison Boden, Executive Director of Free Speech Coalition. We, of course, support keeping minors from accessing adult content, but allowing the state to suppress certain speech by requiring invasive and burdensome systems that consumers refuse to engage with is simply state censorship. Seven states have passed laws requiring sites with substantial amounts of material harmful to minors to check users’ government ID or other age and identity verification information in order to access content. But consumers have been reluctant to do so, with more than 90% of users abandoning sites that comply with such laws. Last year, Louisiana passed a law allowing for a private right of action against adult sites without such age-verification for consumers, and other states followed suit. In June, Governor John Bel Edwards signed a new law giving the government the power to fine sites directly, as much as $1M per year. The First Amendment protects our right to freely access legal content and ideas without government interference, says Jeff Sandman, a New Orleans-based counsel for the Free Speech Coalition. We’re fighting not only for adult businesses but for the right of legal adults to use the internet without government surveillance. Showing your ID in a checkout lane is simply not the same as submitting it to a government database. For decades, our industry has voluntarily and enthusiastically worked with filters that allow parents and others to easily block adult sites, says Boden. Those who wish to can do so easily, and the Supreme Court has ruled that this is preferable to government-mandated censorship. We are again asking the courts to reject these unreasonable and dangerous restrictions on a free internet.

Pornhub fights back against internet porn censorship in Utah

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See article from news.bloomberglaw.com

Pornhub is fight back against Utah’s new law requiring visitors to porn websites to verify their age by dangerously identifying themselves before being able to watch adult content..Pornhub began totally blocking Utah-based internet connections’ from access to its content when the law took effect May 3. The site redirects visitors to a video message of adult film actress Cherie DeVille explaining that the company disabled access over concerns that the law is not the most effective solution for protecting our users and in fact will put children, and your privacy, at risk. The Free Speech Coalition, a group representing the adult entertainment industry, also sued to block the law’s enforcement that same day, making a similar argument about the trade-off regarding safety, privacy, and adults’ freedom to browse the web as they wish.The group has also vowed to sue over unsafe age-verification measures set to take effect soon in other states.

Has anyone dared to ask the kids how they will respond to a social media ban?…

French lawmakers rush to get ageverification mandated to block under 15s from accessing social media without parental permission.

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See article from xbiz.com

The Culture Committee of France’s National Assembly voted last week to expand the age verification requirements already mandated for adult content to several popular mainstream social media platforms.The French lawmakers voted in favour of requiring social media platforms to block access to under 15s, unless they have permission from their parents. The reasons given by the committee for last week’s hearing were to examine a proposed law establishing a “digital age of majority” of 15 and to “fight online hate.” The bill was put forward by MP Laurent Marcangeli, a member of parliament from President Emmanuel Macron’s allied party Horizons, and was endorsed by the committee on Feb. 15. Infringing social media companies, the Politico report noted, will face fines of up to one percent of their annual global turnover. Technical solutions to verify users’ ages would need to be rubber-stamped by the audiovisual and privacy regulators — Arcom and CNIL — and Arcom would be empowered to sue non-compliant companies. The bill now heads to a plenary session and to the Senate. According to a French government source, CNIL and Arcom will soon be releasing age verification technical guidelines that will “frame the minimum criteria” for “pornographic websites” to comply. It appears that France will allow payment card verification and face scanning for age (with an unlikely promise of not surreptitiously using facial recognition at the same time) in the short term whilst waiting for a more complex technical solution being suggested by CNIL. French Digital Minister Jean-Noël Barrot told the parliamentarians that a system of “double anonymity” for porn site age verification would be tested at the end of March with a few adult companies, which he did not name.

MPs are still discussing how age verification for porn sites could actually work in practice

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See article from lefigaro.fr

France has passed laws requiring age verification for porn websites and moralist campaign groups are clamouring for the implementation and enforcement of said age verification.However the law does not specify how age verification should work. The country’s data protection authorities have proposed a privacy preserving solution that seems way too complex to be practical. Now MPs are getting frustrated by the impasse leading to a suggestion that using a bank payment card could be a pragmatic solution to the dilemma. France’s Secretary of State for Children Charlotte Caubel has been speaking in the National Assembly and has suggested that the use of a bank card to watch porn online could act as a filter to guarantee the prohibition of access to pornography for minors. We are going to make things happen quite seriously , assured Charlotte Caubel before the Delegation for the Rights of the Child. She notably mentioned the use of a bank card as a filter, for zero or one euro in order to allow access to pornographic sites. She added that It would not be a perfect filter, but already if we can protect 30 or 40% (of minors), let’s be pragmatic. My child, when he uses his credit card, I have an alert, I’ll see if it’s on Youporn or on McDonald s,

UK’s internet censor threatens the few adult video sharing websites that are stupid enough to be based in Britain

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See press release from ofcom.org.uk

UK adult sites not doing enough to protect children Smaller adult video-sharing sites based in the UK do not have sufficiently robust access control measures in place to stop children accessing pornography, Ofcom has found in a new report. Ahead of our future duties in the Online Safety Bill, Ofcom already has some powers to regulate video-sharing platforms (VSPs) established in the UK, which are required by law to take measures to protect people using their sites and apps from harmful videos. Nineteen companies have notified us that they fall within our jurisdiction. They include TikTok, Snapchat, Twitch, Vimeo, OnlyFans and BitChute; as well as several smaller platforms, including adult sites. Ofcom is concerned that smaller UK-based adult sites do not have robust measures in place to prevent children accessing pornography. They all have age verification measures in place when users sign up to post content. However, users can generally access adult content just by self-declaring that they are over 18. One smaller adult platform told us that it had considered implementing age verification, but had decided not to as it would reduce the profitability of the business. However, the largest UK-based site with adult content, OnlyFans, has responded to regulation by adopting age verification for all new UK subscribers, using third-party tools provided by Yoti and Ondato. According to new research we have published today, most people (81%) do not mind proving their age online in general, with a majority (78%) expecting to have to do so for certain online activities. A similar proportion (80%) feel internet users should be required to verify their age when accessing pornography online, especially on dedicated adult sites. Over the next year, adult sites that we already regulate must have in place a clear roadmap to implementing robust age verification measures. If they don’t, they could face enforcement action. Under future online safety laws, Ofcom will have broader powers to ensure that many more services are protecting children from adult content. Some progress protecting users, but more to be done We have seen some companies make positive changes more broadly to protect users from harmful content online, including as a direct result of being regulated under the existing laws. For example: TikTok now categorises content that may be unsuitable for younger users, to prevent them from viewing it. It has also established an Online Safety Oversight Committee, which provides executive oversight of content and safety compliance specifically within the UK and EU. Snapchat recently launched a parental control feature, Family Center, which allows parents and guardians to view a list of their child’s conversations without seeing the content of the message. Vimeo now allows only material rated all audiences to be visible to users without an account. Content rated mature or unrated is now automatically put behind the login screen. BitChute has updated its terms and conditions and increased the number of people overseeing and — if necessary — removing content. However, it is clear that many platforms are not sufficiently equipped, prepared and resourced for regulation. We have recently opened a formal investigation into one firm, Tapnet Ltd — which operates adult site RevealMe — in relation to its response to our information request. We also found that companies are not prioritising risk assessments of their platforms, which we consider fundamental to proactively identifying and mitigating risks to users. This will be a requirement on all regulated services under future online safety laws. Over the next twelve months, we expect companies to set and enforce effective terms and conditions for their users, and quickly remove or restrict harmful content when they become aware of it. We will review the tools provided by platforms to their users for controlling their experience, and expect them to set out clear plans for protecting children from the most harmful online content, including pornography.

California Governor Signs Disastrously Stupid Age Appropriate Design Code

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See article from techdirt.com by Mike Masnick

Gavin Newsom, who wants to be President some day, and thus couldn’t risk misleading headlines that he didn’t protect the children, has now signed AB 2273 into law. At this point there’s not much more I can say about why AB 2273 is so bad. I’ve explained why it’s literally impossible to comply with (and why many sites will just ignore it). I’ve explained how it’s pretty clearly unconstitutional. I’ve explained how the whole idea was pushed for and literally sponsored by a Hollywood director / British baroness who wants to destroy the internet. I’ve explained how it won’t do much, if anything, to protect children, but will likely put them at much greater risk. I’ve explained how the company it will likely benefit most is the world’s largest porn company — not to mention COVID disinfo peddlers and privacy lawyers. I’ve explained how the companies supporting the law insist that we shouldn’t worry because websites will just start scanning your face when you visit. None of that matters, though. Because, in this nonsense political climate where moral panics and culture wars are all that matter in politics, politicians are going to back laws that claim to protect the children, no matter how much of a lie that is. The bill doesn’t go into effect until the middle of 2024 and I would assume that someone will go to court to challenge it, meaning that what this bill is going to accomplish in the short run is California wasting a ton of taxpayer dollars (just as Texas and Florida did) to try to pretend they have the power to tell companies how to design their products. See full article from techdirt.com