this post was submitted on 11 Jan 2025
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Summary

Several U.S. states have enacted laws requiring pornography sites, such as PornHub, to implement age verification to prevent minors' access, prompting the site’s parent company, Aylo, to block access in affected states.

Proponents argue these laws protect children, while critics highlight privacy risks, inefficiencies, and potential censorship.

These measures reflect growing social conservatism, with some advocates aiming to restrict adult content broadly.

While privacy-focused age verification methods exist, regulatory clarity is lacking.

Critics warn these laws may suppress responsible platforms, favoring unregulated alternatives, and escalate broader culture wars around sexuality and LGBTQ+ rights.

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[–] aceshigh@lemmy.world 1 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

I’m curious what this graph looks like compared to states with legal weed.

[–] Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 hour ago (1 children)
[–] PyroNeurosis@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

Lol. Montana's wilding up there. Toke up all you please, but no porn.

[–] Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works 2 points 46 minutes ago* (last edited 44 minutes ago)

I think the most fascinating thing is that of out of all states Idaho seems to be the only one that doesn't even allow medical use.

(Not that the low THC states are much better... you could probably get similar or better stuff from the gas station/head shop in almost any state after McConnells farm bill pseudo legalized it)

[–] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 13 points 6 hours ago (2 children)

There are thousands of porn sites. Blocking pornhub doesn’t even register. If someone wants to find porn it is no more difficult than it was the day before the ban, it just won’t be pornhub porn.

[–] Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works 6 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

I think this is just step one. Once the porn sites with money stop fighting it then they will go after any search engine that lists porn sites.

If you can't find it on Google/Bing/Etc. it may as well not even exist for a majority of people.

[–] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 1 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

I welcome the re-emergence of newsgroups again.

[–] Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 hour ago

It would be funny if it just ended up teaching everyone how to torrent stuff.

[–] ProfessorProteus@lemmy.world 1 points 2 hours ago

They must know that that's the case. Even if they blocked the entire internet in those states, porn would still be easily accessible. Blocking PornHub is just whacking a single mole in a huge field full of them.

At least they're wasting some of their time with this limp-dicked bullshit. Better than using it to pursue their broader, more sinister goals.

[–] Sprocketfree@sh.itjust.works 23 points 15 hours ago (2 children)

So no one wants to talk about how maybe we should just be talking to our kids about sexuality? This is just the absence only crowd again. And of course it's taking the rest of our liberties with it but can we stop framing this has tech was of protecting children here? It's Trojan horse bullshit.

[–] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 13 points 6 hours ago

It’s the sex doesn’t exist if we don’t talk about it crowd. Just like they don’t like talking about the gays or the trans or CRT. Talking about any of these things means accommodation and mental effort has to be expended. Can’t have that.

[–] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 6 points 5 hours ago

Yeah. I'm sure it's awkward, but it's also necessary. My mom was honest and open about such topics with me and it was really good for me. It meant that had an adult touched me inappropriately as a child I knew what to do and that I could trust my mom to keep me safe and it meant that as I grew older and began experimenting I wasn't taking undue risks because I knew enough to make reasonably informed decisions.

Teenagers are going to engage in sexual exploration. Some won't, sure, but most of them are pretty hardwired to want to try and to be willing to break rules to do it. And, given that they're inexperienced and dealing with a hormonal hurricane some of them will make choices they regret. We can bury our heads in the sand and swear up and down that our kids know better because we told them not to do it, or we can grow the fuck up and accept that little kids need to know how to report a bad touch, elementary schoolers need to know what their body will do in a few years, and teenagers need to know enough to make informed choices when they inevitably experiment

[–] randon31415@lemmy.world 13 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

Mad conservative computer scientists: "Yes, using the fear that kids might see porno, we will soon require the implementation of the impossible device: Anonymous age verification! Since no one will be able to implement it, we will ban all pornography off the internet!"

Mad liberal computer scientists: : "Using generative AI, anyone can now produce any porno they want, even offline! And the interface is so easy that even a kid can use it!"

Porn companies: "We will have the computer take a picture of you and analyze your age to grant access."

Users: Uses generative AI to generate fake pictures to get access to real porn.

[–] potpotato@lemmy.world 3 points 5 hours ago

User: uses the VPN they had already

don't even for a second think this is in favour of you.

it's some weird christian idea that the human must be "purified" and watching porn stops that. it's about an ideology, not about you or your wellbeing.

[–] uhmbah@lemmy.ca 62 points 1 day ago

Right. "Protecting children". Meanwhile, lowering the age range for child workers...

"No beating off! You need to save your energy for the night shift."

https://clockify.me/learn/business-management/minimum-working-age-by-state/

https://www.google.com/search?q=+child+workers+over+night

[–] Rhoeri@lemmy.world 6 points 19 hours ago

It’s there like, 3,000,000 other porn sites people can use? I don’t hover how this is a victory in any form.

[–] nutsack@lemmy.world 36 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (3 children)

they keep saying its about trans people but then they keep blocking porn so i don't know what it is. i think christians and conservatives are stupid as fuck

[–] nickiwest@lemmy.world 17 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

Every time that a conservative equates the mere existence of trans people with sex, they're just outing their own kink.

[–] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 3 points 4 hours ago

"These people who've historically been marginalized to having to do sex work to live authentically and are more likely to be victims of sexusl violence are inherently sex crazed freaks."

Like, as soon as we could openly do jobs that aren't sex work we got a reputation as computer programmers. Turns out we're all multidimensional human beings.

it's mostly because the red hats love trans porn, and hate themselves for loving trans porn, and they just need a little help resisting temptation

[–] FolknForage@lemm.ee 5 points 1 day ago

Socially accepted mental illness

[–] Juigi@lemm.ee 51 points 1 day ago (4 children)

"it's for the children" is always a red flag

[–] pyre@lemmy.world 14 points 1 day ago

classic fascist tactic. there's a reason half of the 14 words is about children

[–] gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

step

  1. declare children don't understand the world
  2. declare children can't make reasonable choices
  3. parents and officials now get to decide what children do or don't
  4. have obedient slaves.
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[–] eletes@sh.itjust.works 13 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

"Another method, used in Germany, lets people show their ID card at a post office and get a unique ID to access adult sites. This could potentially be done without logging the person’s identity, but as CNIL points out such systems require much work to set up."

This exactly what I was thinking of while reading the article. It's just like going to a bar and getting carded. As long as no info is stored, I would be fine with this if were seriously looking for a solution for the kids

[–] ThomasCrappersGhost@feddit.uk 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

When I got my first smart phone, to access adult media and even Facebook, I needed to go in to a shop and verify my age using ID and they edited my account details, with this phone I had an instantly refunded penny charge on my credit card. There are very simple ways around it, which they apparently aren’t interested in.

[–] Chip_Rat@lemmy.world 3 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

Who is "they" in this context.

Honest question I promise. I don't understand what's going on....

[–] ThomasCrappersGhost@feddit.uk 2 points 11 hours ago

I don’t know a lot either. By “they” I just mean those who are trying to ban porn.

[–] futatorius@lemm.ee 22 points 1 day ago

They're compiling a list and they'll find a way to use it against you. Anyone who thinks the age-verification services won't share their data with the states is naive. Use a VPN and only pay using an anonymous prepaid card, and if that doesn't work, pirate the content.

While privacy-focused age verification methods exist

What might those be, and have they been reviewed by anyone with actual knowledge of security?

[–] HeroHelck@lemm.ee 175 points 1 day ago (17 children)

It's a classic tactic, use a somewhat legitimate concern (Minors having access to pornography). And blow it far out of proportion, and use it as an excuse to crackdown on what you're really after. You will see people defending these bans because the "reasoning" they're being presented SEEMS rational, but unwittingly they're supporting a mass crackdown on their own rights.

[–] mox@lemmy.sdf.org 98 points 1 day ago (1 children)

See also: The constant push by governments to take away our right to private (encrypted) communications.

ItS tO prOteCT the CHILDRen's comMUNIcaTIoN.

yeah no for sure and that's why we should all install spyware onto our phones. there's no "switch in the settings" to turn it off. (for a recent example, see the EU commission's newest proposals.)

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[–] natecox@programming.dev 151 points 1 day ago (21 children)

With this method, users take a photo of their face which is then analyzed by AI to estimate their age. Tombs says this involves no analysis of the user’s actual identity, and that all photos are deleted once the check is finished. Hence, neither Yoti nor the porn site ever needs to know who you are.

No. Fuck no. Just… wow.

[–] Railing5132@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago

Just like the tsa deleted all the body scan images after the subject left the scanner.

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[–] Kolanaki@yiffit.net 13 points 1 day ago (1 children)

At the core of the debate is a genuinely thorny technical and legal question: how to verify someone’s age over the internet without exposing them to cyber theft or government surveillance.

Age verification providers are adamant that this is possible.

I agree that it is possible if you can guarantee absolutely zero corruption in the system. Which you cannot.

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[–] SS2k_2003@lemmy.world 58 points 1 day ago (4 children)

Fascists view sexuality as a threat to their movements.

[–] jaggedrobotpubes@lemmy.world 3 points 10 hours ago

Also: laughing, knowing things, joy.

[–] gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de 8 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

sexuality is the core of human desire, and if you suppress that, you suppress the development of the individual's sense of self-determination. that's why it's so important to the government so suppress sexuality.

there are other reasons, of course. for example, almost everyone nowadays is overworked, and of course that leads to a decline in relationships.

also, people are stronger together. sexuality brings people together. if you can suppress the sexuality of large swaths of people, you can basically hinder the forming of social coherence and community.

[–] SPRUNT@lemmy.world 34 points 1 day ago

Fascists view knowledge as a threat. They use sexuality as another means of segregation.

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[–] Ooops@feddit.org 8 points 1 day ago

"While privacy-focused age verification methods exist, regulatory clarity is lacking."

It's not lacking clarity. Privacy-focused age verification is simply not wanted by big tech and politically (because money from big tech) as they wouldn't be able to collect and make money with building profiles of what you do online.

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