Opinion | Tech | Politics
Florida and Texas Wage War on Porn, Demand Identification From Users
Texas and Florida can now demand the identification of porn viewers
This upending of traditional law has the potential for widespread ramifications for the Internet as a whole. Currently, elsewhere around the world, it’s the users themselves who are responsible for proving that only adults see 18+ content. The website’s Terms of Service says they must be 18 and by using the site, they acknowledge that much.
Before you say that it seems crazy that Texas’ anti-porn law could spill over to other websites, understand that Florida’s law not only demands age verification to access porn sites but also social media sites (or any site with infinite scrolling, so even blogs).
This provides websites of all stripes legal cover. If a website explicitly states that it’s only intended for adults, in the case of porn, or people over 16 in the case of some social media sites, they’ve told the public the intended use of the site. Now, it’s on the public to abide by that. YouTube’s age limit is 13 years old and if a kid younger than 13 sneaks on and gets into trouble or sees something they shouldn’t, YouTube warned the kid and parents that the site is for anyone 13+ but not younger…
