Louisiana Law Now Requires Age Verification At Any Site Containing More Than One-Third Porn
from the [whips-out-dipstick-to-check-site's-porn-level] dept
Very few issues have generated as much ridiculous legislation as preventing minors from accessing pornography. Almost everyone agrees something must be done. And most seem to agree that doing anything — no matter how stupid — is better than doing nothing.
Extremely stupid versions of “something” have cropped up around the nation, most of them propelled by a self-proclaimed anti-porn activist who once tried to marry his own computer in protest of gay marriage and has engaged in a number of performative lawsuits, including one against Apple for failing to prevent him from accessing porn on his devices.
Many of these bills have gone nowhere. However, a few have actually become law, providing the legislation’s supporters with some cheap wins that look good on the anti-porn resume, if it they don’t really do much to actually prevent children from accessing explicit content.
A law passed last year in Louisiana has just gone into effect, requiring age verification at sites that meet the state’s watershed for porn content.
The porn industry has been around for a while and in today’s digital age business is booming. When Laurie Schlegel isn’t seeing her patients who struggle with sex addiction, she’s at the Louisiana State Capitol.
The Republican state representative from Metairie passed HB 142 earlier this year requiring age verification for any website that contains 33.3% or more pornographic material.
“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,” said Schlegel.
There’s some weird stuff going on here, likely due to the law [PDF] being about 90% performative nonsense and 10% legalese.
First off, there’s the strangely arbitrary cutoff point of one-third porn content. Unmentioned anywhere is how porn percentage will be determined. Also unmentioned is whether or not the law still applies when the total percentage of porn content dips below 33%.
This language appears to borrowed from the UK’s disastrous porn filter legislation, which proposed the same cutoff line while similarly being vague about how the porn percentage of sites would be determined.
That sets the baseline for enforcement, suggesting a government entity might have to access all available content on a site to determine whether or not it can be held liable (via civil suits brought by residents or the state attorney general) for failing to properly conduct age verification.
But to get to all of this, one first has to wade through a paragraph presumably written by Rep. Schlegel, which supposedly justifies everything that comes after it.
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. Pornography may also impact brain development and functioning, contribute to emotional and medical illnesses, shape deviant sexual arousal, and lead to difficulty in forming or maintaining positive, intimate relationships, as well as promoting problematic or harmful sexual behaviors and addiction.
This sounds a lot like the stuff said by others pushing anti-porn legislation, a lot of it composed by a man who sued Apple for allowing him to access porn. It’s a smokescreen that allows prudish legislators to hide their desire to control what content even adults can consume (by raising state-sponsored barriers) behind statements about concerns for the health and well-being of constituents.
This may be Schlegel’s own writing, however. Her statements to WAFB contain plenty of other absurd assertions.
She said problems like depression, erectile dysfunction, lack of motivation, and fatigue can be directly linked to porn. She also said to prevent these issues from occurring at younger ages, this law is imperative.
“It’s tied to some of the biggest societal ills of human trafficking and sexual assault. And in my own practice, the youngest we’ve ever seen is an 8-year-old,” noted Schlegel.
There’s little if anything linking porn to sexual assault. And I don’t know which of these problems the state rep observed in an 8-year-old, but I sincerely hope it wasn’t erectile dysfunction.
The law may prevent sites required to verify the ages of visitors from collecting or storing credentials/personal info used for verification, but the author of the bill thinks the easiest way to verify age is to run it through a verification app created by a private company in partnership with the Louisiana government.
According to Schlegel, websites would verify someone’s age in collaboration with LA Wallet. So, if you plan on using these sites in the future, you may want to download the app.
“I would say so,” said Sara Kelley, project manager with Envoc. “I mean, I think it’s a must-have for anyone who has a Louisiana state ID or driver’s license.”
LA Wallet is a digital drivers license. At the time of its creation, it was the first of its kind in the country. Nudging porn viewers towards state-sponsored apps is all part of the plan. If people believe (correctly or incorrectly) the government may have some way of knowing they’re visiting sites containing at least 33.3% porn, they’re less likely to visit these sites. So, this law may claim it’s for the children, but it’s all about steering people away from content certain legislators don’t like.
It also will nudge sites to more directly police user-generated content for porn to help ensure they don’t inadvertently pass the one-third mark and open themselves up to litigation. The law controls content on both ends of the equation: the distributor and the consumer.
Not that the law is going to actually prevent kids from accessing porn. Plenty of porn can be found on sites not subject to the law. And plenty of porn can be easily accessed even with a state mandate in place. Since most sites affected by this aren’t actually located in Louisiana, they’re under no obligation to verify the ages of users, even if the users are located in this state. And the law creates no demand (nor could it without creating even greater privacy concerns) that sites police incoming internet traffic for users’ locations at the time of access.
It’s all a bunch of performative stupidity that, at best, will encourage stupid, performative people to file stupid, performative lawsuits. And maybe that’s really the end goal: the pointless hassling of tech companies for not being better parents to the children of Louisiana.
Filed Under: adult content, age verification, laurie schlegel, louisiana, porn, porn license
Comments on “Louisiana Law Now Requires Age Verification At Any Site Containing More Than One-Third Porn”
Once read something like this from an Aussie
Nary a day passes where I don’t thank God on my knees that Providence sent the criminals to our continent and the Puritans to America.
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Providence, England?
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More like divine providence, personified. Cf Fortuna.
one might ask: how is this porn percentage calculated?
ans: I’ll know it when I see it.
Re: How it's calculated
Say, your site has 5000 porn videos.
You just also need to host 10,001 cat pics.
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But what about furry porn?
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Moreover, where would the South Park episode “Cat Orgy” fit in?
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Hmmm… Maybe have it start with one cat pic, then have it automatically upload another whenever someone uploads a new porn video. That could actually work…
33.3% porn by volume, huh?
No biggie. Download a copy of Project Gutenberg, maybe we can photos or videos of the sky or something. It’s silly and wasteful but doesn’t sound hard to beat… unless the measurement is rigged, which it is obviously meant to be.
The entire thing is absurd though
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I think you overestimate the size of Project Gutenberg. It only contains content somebody considers worth conserving.
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It has over 60,0000 books, and growing. so would dilute 30,000 porn films to below the threshold.
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Which obscure sexual practice has a mere 30,000 porn flics to it?
Re: Re: Project Gutenberg
Project Gutenberg just covers the text part of the required 2/3 SFW content.
We’ll still need those cat videos..and by the way, is furry porn actually porn to people who aren’t themselves furry?
More than that, though, there was a time when I used medical textbooks for porn, so…will we actually know porn when we see it?
She's not a doctor
The article and her comments about “my practice” and so forth are written to sound like she’s a medical doctor.
She’s not a doctor or medical professional of any kind. Her comments are being cited as though they are from some kind of an expert, which is not the case.
She is a salesman, originally for Mariott and then she sold pharmaceuticals for AstraZenica.
She has some kind of a diploma in “counseling”.
From wikipedia:
Schlegel attended St. Mary’s Dominican High School in New Orleans. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in psychology from Louisiana State University and a Master of Arts in marriage and family counseling from the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.
Re: Well one of those degrees is valid at least...
She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in psychology from Louisiana State University and a Master of Arts in marriage and family counseling from the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.
Would you look at that, I do believe you just stumbled upon why she’s so gung-ho against porn.
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She was young and needed the money?
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Or.
She’s a willing brownshirt.
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Why not both?
The hitlerjugend was infamous for recruiting the young, lost and hungry and churn the brainwashed thugs in droves out for the party.
This isn’t the first we’ve seen of morons trying to ban information off the internet. I’m fairly sure that she isn’t going to be the one who succeeds.
Bluntly put I’d actually say Tim’s wrong this time. This is no less than 100% performative nonsense, with whatever legalese has been constructed around the religious edict she’s trying to push either requiring a dozen outright constitutional violations to pull off or literally being impossible to execute.
Of course, for someone trying to cater to the religious zealots and the fascist base I’m sure just trying to introduce the bill and publicly screaming about it has already accomplished everything she set out to do.
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You seem to have missed something here. This has already passed and gone into effect. Mindgeek (the company behind PornHub and others) already requires ID and there’s an existing precedent for requiring ID for pornographic content. I also believe that this is not the way to improve knowledge about sex in children (proper, age-appropriate, sex education is the way to do that) but, the think of the children types just don’t want to accept that kids who want to find porn, will find porn.
Running into porn accidentally just doesn’t happen as often as one may think. The only time I accidently ran into porn was when I got home and had to help my dad stop the VHS in the living room before my mom and younger brother walked into the house. Even then, it was years (I think I was 16 or 17) before I went looking for porn myself.
'I don't like looking at it so no-one should be allowed to!'
Well that’s one way to get your state geoblocked/sued by a bunch of sites who aren’t keen on your attempt to push your version of ‘morality’ onto everyone else along with all the work required to ‘uphold’ it.
The law may prevent sites required to verify the ages of visitors from collecting or storing credentials/personal info used for verification, but the author of the bill thinks the easiest way to verify age is to run it through a verification app created by a private company in partnership with the Louisiana government.
‘You must verify the ages of your users if a third of the content on your site is pornographic but you’re not allowed to ask for or store the information that would allow you to do that. On an unrelated note there’s this service that we are definitely not getting kickbacks from that is all about age-verification that you might be interested in contacting so that you’re not in violation of the law we just passed.’
Re: Actually, to be more accurate
“I like looking at it therefore nobody should be allowed to”
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Well, that’s more or less the basis for any law. Speed limits are not issued because lawmakers like to drive slow.
Re: RE: 'I don't like looking at it so no-one should be allowed to!'
I’m wondering how anyone without proper documents; aliens, certain tourists, sovereign citizens, etc, will be able to prove they are adults. How are they handling animals and AI? My 30yo parrot deserves to watch the hunky-bo-bo.
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I suppose one could use a Leisure Suit Larry-style quiz…
Not a problem.
The Dark Web will have a list of all the DL info for all the state government leaders available. The kids will find and use them. Then the site can “leak” the information on how many hours each of the “registered legislators” spend on the site…
I look forward to the database leaking & spending 20 minutes cross matching those who wanted teh porn & who holds office.
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at this point, projection seems as inevitable as in movie theaters.
One third....of what?
Is that by picture count, or video length, or data size?
If only 1/3 of a picture contains …um… pink and wobbly, but 2/3 is artistic scenery, is that ok?
This could keep lawyers employed for years!
Re: Lizzo...
So, is Lizzo playing that crystal flute in a show recently porn or not?? It’s very wiggly!
Something that actually harms teens:
The unnatural Christian “values” that masturbation and understanding one’s sexuality are “sinful.”
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No, that’s only your biased opinion of what you think those values are. But nowhere in the Bible is masturbation even mentioned, and if you think it says understanding one’s sexuality is wrong, you haven’t read the Song of Solomon. Who do you think created sex and designed our bodies the way they are? There’s no other way to “be fruitful and multiply”, you know.
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Who do you think created sex and designed our bodies the way they are?
There’s no need for a creation mechanism for a creator who is infinitely capable of creating, is there?
Redundant, inefficient, and unpredictable are three words that come to mind if you think that some creator is behind this unremarkable engineering feat that all but guarantees a fight for survival.
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… said nobody capable of rational independent thought, ever.
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And, according to most (White Christian) Americans, the Song of Solomon, the dirtiest book of the canonical Bible, is something as taboo as porn but because it’s the Bible, they don’t talk about it UNLESS it suits their agenda.
Something that could only be said by someone who has not looked at porn, as people with every body shape act in porn movies.
Re: Someone needs to get laid
“She said problems like depression, erectile dysfunction, lack of motivation, and fatigue can be directly linked to porn.”
Religious backed bullshit. “OMG naked bodies and sex, going to hell!!”
Well, there is some fatigue after cracking one off, so I suppose we can give them that one…
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I do have to wonder how much of the ‘depression, erectile dysfunction, lack of motivation’ is tied to religiously motivated shame and condemnation for porn use.
If you tell someone that they’re a terrible person for looking at porn, and the society they are in reinforces and repeats that it’s probably not too surprising that that person would be stressed out and not feeling great as a result.
there is ONLY one internet censorship law needed.......
it’s called “parental controls!” all devices have them! from computers to cell phone’s to tablets and any other internet capable device! if that’s not good enough for you. then there are other programs that can be downloaded! and for the final kick your kid in the teeth, you can goto your ISP, cell provider and request that what ever site you deem shouldn’t be accessed by said devices that you control to have them blocked!
oh….but, but, but…the kids will find a way around the blocks… then that means YOU failed as a parent! now fuck off! the rest of us have some porn to get back to…..
When did conservatives stop blaming the parents? I mean, when it stopped being politically expedient to do so, obviously, but when was that and what caused the shift?
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When they realized that blaming the parents would probably net them less money.
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When did conservatives stop blaming the parents?
When the failure of the parents became a foundational tenet of being conservative.
Re: No one's less responsible than the party of personal responsibility
When they realized that assigning blame to the parents would require blaming themselves, and since that wasn’t going to happen all the blame needed to be shifted elsewhere.
Ah yes, that famously chaste and rational group of people, teenagers. Though I guess if your primary reference point is American politicians, I can understand how it might seem that way.
With all the Malibu Media and Prenda articles on this site, I’m sure it is more than 33% porn. Time to shut it down.
Okay, write a script that every time a new piece of porn is uploaded to your site has an AI generate two randomised landscapes and save those.
how exactly does louisiana plan to enforce this.
lets say pornhub refuses to go along with them. porkhub isnt a us company. they can easily just ignore the whole law and theres squat LA can do about it
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Does Mindgeek (the parent of PornHub) have any assets in the US? This law creates civil (not criminal) liability so, the state of Louisiana could sue over it. Also, does the US have civil penalty enforcement treaties with the EU? If so, such a judgment could be served on their HQ in Luxembourg.
Certainly Won't Be Used For Blackmail
Government IDs, location metadata, search/viewing records; there’s no way this would ever be used to publicly shame current and upcoming political rivals.
Sign-up link????
That sets the baseline for enforcement, suggesting a government entity might have to access all available content on a site to determine whether or not it can be held liable …
Anyone got the sign-up link handy???? ummm, asking for a friend
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No, that’s only your biased opinion of what you think those values are. But nowhere in the Bible is masturbation even mentioned, and if you think it says understanding one’s sexuality is wrong, you haven’t read the Song of Solomon. Who do you think created sex and designed our bodies the way they are? There’s no other way to “be fruitful and multiply”, you know.
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Sir, this is a Taco Bell.
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Louisiana Law
Louisiana law does not apply to me, an non-Louisiana resident. A bunch of control freaks. Nice try.