The government never does anything good.

These states are not banning porn, despite the fact that they have a right to do that. They’re making you scan your ID card so your real identity can be tracked online.

Obviously, any kid that wants to look at porn can just go to another website, or he can find an ID image online and scan that. Of course, it’s never explained why porn is better for people over the age of 18 or why the government supports that.

The Independent:

More than a third of US states have now introduced restrictions for online adult content, blocking access to popular pornographic websites such as Pornhub.

From 1 January, 2025, there are 17 states with restrictions in place after Florida, South Carolina and Tennessee became the latest to enforce over-18 age verification laws for viewing porn sites.

Legislation aimed at banning under-18s from viewing adult content in these states – which have a combined population of more than 120 million – typically requires visitors to provide state-approved identification, such as a passport or driving license.

Critics claim that this is a violation of user privacy, with Pornhub, RedTube and YouPorn parent company Aylo claiming that it also puts people’s personal data at risk. The company said it has withdrawn its websites from these states as a result of the laws.

“Aylo has publicly supported age verification of users for years, but we believe that any law to this effect must preserve user safety and privacy, and must effectively protect children from accessing content intended for adults,” a spokesperson said.

Well, obviously it’s a privacy violation.

And what is the point when if you believed porn is a social evil, you could just ban it outright?

The point must be to violate privacy, no?

Project 2025 called for the criminalization of pornography.

Further restrictions could be introduced under Donald Trump’s administration, with the criminalisation of pornography among the proposals of the controversial Project 2025 plan drawn up by the Heritage Foundation.

The conservative think tank claims that pornography has no First Amendment protections relating to free speech, and refers to it as “addictive as any illicit drug and as psychologically destructive as any crime” in the 920-page manifesto.

“Pornography should be outlawed. The people who produce and distribute it should be imprisoned,” Project 2025 states.

I don’t understand why the media continues to claim Trump is involved with Project 2025 when he’s made it clear he condemns everything in it. The idea that Trump is going to ban porn is ridiculous. Maybe he’ll ban TikTok to fight the Chinese (i.e., posts about Israel). That’s all.

Well, it looks like Utah pulled off the impossible.

It’s good on them.

Of course, there will always be porn on the internet. There is porn on the internet in China, where it’s like, a serious crime. It’s the same issue with the inability to eliminate fentanyl at this point. We are going to have to find social solutions to these vice issues.

CNN:

Some of the internet’s biggest adult websites, including Pornhub, are now blocking access to Utah users over a new age verification law that takes effect on Wednesday.

Pornhub and other adult sites controlled by its parent, MindGeek, began blocking visitors with Utah-based IP addresses this week. Now, instead of seeing adult content when visiting those sites, affected users are shown a message expressing opposition to SB287, the Utah law signed by Gov. Spencer Cox in March that creates liability for porn sites that make their content available to people below the age of 18.

“As you may know, your elected officials in Utah are requiring us to verify your age before allowing you access to our website,” the message said. “While safety and compliance are at the forefront of our mission, giving your ID card every time you want to visit an adult platform is not the most effective solution for protecting our users, and in fact, will put children and your privacy at risk.”

The statement, accompanied by a video of an adult actor reading the message on-camera, added that the age verification requirement could drive users “to sites with far fewer safety measures.” And it called for policymakers to “identify users by their device” rather than by requiring them to upload their photo ID.

“Until a real solution is offered, we have made the difficult decision to completely disable access to our website in Utah,” the message said, concluding with a call for Utahns to “demand device-based verification solutions” from policymakers.

Pornhub declined to comment on its actions in Utah beyond the message it posted to users in the state, and it also declined to address the likelihood of attempts to circumvent the IP address filtering.

Porn sites aren’t the only ones to face calls for age verification. State and federal lawmakers have increasingly pushed to mandate a minimum age for social media use, too. Last week, US senators proposed a nationwide ban on social media use for children under 13. Age requirements for social websites have also been approved in Arkansas.

But porn is often a bellwether for how content and technologies may be regulated. In Louisiana, one of the country’s first age requirements for adult websites went into effect in January.

Pornhub, which says it receives 130 million visitors a day, is still available in Louisiana despite the age verification law. Users accessing Pornhub from within Louisiana are presented with a different webpage that directs them to verify their age with the state’s digital ID system, known as LA Wallet.

A spokesperson for the site told CNN that since the Louisiana law went into effect, traffic from that state has fallen by 80%. The spokesperson added that unlike Louisiana, Utah lacks a similar digital ID solution.

Well, you would have to wonder: if PornHub is protesting age verification, doesn’t that mean they want kids looking at their porn?

We’ve all known for more than a decade that the average first exposure to hardcore pornography is around 11 years old, and no one has done anything or really even seemed to act as though it was a problem.

I wonder why?