Pornhub blocks access in Mississippi and Virginia over age verification laws

L4sBot@lemmy.worldmod to Technology@lemmy.world – 428 points –
Pornhub blocks access in Mississippi and Virginia over age verification laws
theverge.com

Pornhub has shut off access in Mississippi and Virginia to protest age verification laws that can involve checking government IDs. It previously blocked access in Utah.

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why is this getting so much traction in the media? there's so many other, arguably better resources for pornography on the interwebs

I think it’s just highlighting that state governments are making crazy laws like this, and PH is one of the big dogs everyone knows

It's important to ensure coverage of state control. These "moral" issues being delt with via legislative means is abhorrent. Land of the free, eh?

Would you want to be responsible for checking IDs over the internet? No sane company would want to be responsible for getting it wrong.

Also, would you be willing to send a scan of your drivers license to a porn website? Any website?

You could make the check with your ID card in a way that a middle ware reads the card and just gives the ok signal to the site. No personal data is transfered outside .

I use an lvl 3 smardcard reader for things like this. NFC on the ID is checked, PIN entered in the reader and the middle ware verifies that you are sitting at the PC.

In the moment of request you can see what data is transfered because to use this service they have to be verified by the middle ware service as well in advance for access to the process.

Thats exactly what PH is advocating for, device manufacturers to handle it, securely, privately, on device.

The point is that these states are making ridiculous, unenforceable censorship laws. They're going to try to gate ALL of those arguably better resources you're talking about behind some kind of age verification like a driver's license or some shit. PornHub is just the headline because it's a popular website protesting.

Yea, so many better sites.

We should list them here so everyone can avoid them though.

Sorry mate. If your state blocks porn in this way you need to move or vote for better representation.

I couldn't disagree more. Pornhub is the best porn website we have right now by far. They consistently do a great job of moderating to remove underage porn and revenge porn while also all monetizing for the creators. I don't think a lot of people realize how good we have it worth pornhub

There have been multiple cases of underage girls on PH and SA videos that PH wouldn’t remove when requested by the victim, even a verified account was a trafficked 15 year old. PH is another big corporation that doesn’t give a fuck about people don’t let them fool you

All of that is true and yet it's still the best we have. It says more about how bad the rest of the websites are. The alternatives are awful or will cost money.

All of that is true and yet it's still the best we have. It says more about how bad the rest of the websites are. The alternatives are awful or will cost money.

Pornhub has just become the goto for any pornographic crap in the media. Other sites literally just don't care. I doubt many would even respond to a journalist looking for a statement. Basically the same as the Satanic Church doing something any time a religious bill gets passed in the States.

All of those "tube" sites are owned by the same company that owns PH.