Pornhub parent company blocks access to its sites in Montana and North Carolina over age...

[midian182]

What just happened? January 1, 2024, was not a good day for porn-loving residents of Montana and North Carolina. That was the date they became the latest states to enact a law requiring people to verify their ages using government IDs to access pornographic material online. Pornhub's parent company responded by blocking people in both states from accessing its websites.

After Louisiana brought in age verification laws in early 2023, Utah, Arkansas, Mississippi, Virginia, and Texas introduced similar versions. Montana and North Carolina are the latest to demand websites confirm visitors' ages via ID verification, and Pornhub's parent Aylo – formerly called MindGeek – isn't happy about it.

Aylo has blocked people in Montana and North Carolina from accessing its sites, which include Pornhub, Brazzers, Redtube, and YouPorn, writes 404Media. As is the case in some other states with similar laws, visitors with Montana and North Carolina IPs will see only a video of adult performer Cherie DeVille, a member of the Adult Performer Advocacy Committee, explaining the reason for the block.

"As you may know, your elected officials in Utah are requiring us to verify your age before allowing you access to our website," DeVille says. "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."

Aylo says that the most effective solution for protecting children is to identify users by their devices and allow access to age-restricted material based on that identification. "Until a real solution is offered, we have made the difficult decision to completely disable access to our website in your region," DeVille continues, before asking visitors to contact their representatives and demand device-based verification solutions.

Some adult websites in the states have turned to third-party services to verify users' ages. xHamster is using Yoti, a company also used by Meta to verify new Facebook and Instagram account holders' ages.

In Louisiana, visitors can access Pornhub by creating an AllpassTrust account and then verifying their age using LA Wallet, a Louisiana government mobile app that creates a digital version of a Louisiana Driver's License. Aylo says its traffic in the state has declined by 80% since the law came into effect, unsurprisingly.

The UK is also considering using Yoti to confirm visitors to porn sites are over 18. The system could require people to submit a selfie and then use AI to estimate that person's age.

As noted by Engadget, Montana and North Carolina have seen the number of searches for "VPN" climb enormously over the last few days.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/101388-pornhub-parent-company-blocks-access-sites-montana-north.html

 

[winjer]

When I thought of a dystopian future, having an id check, just to have a wank, was not on my list.

 

[BakaRed77]

So what are they protesting exactly? They are upset because kids won't be able to see pornography from their site anymore? I understand why people might feel upset about an inconvenience of verifying their age. The site really shouldn't be making a move to oppose this though because it really just sends the wrong message.

 

[jonny888]

So what are they protesting exactly? They are upset because kids won't be able to see pornography from their site anymore? I understand why people might feel upset about an inconvenience of verifying their age. The site really shouldn't be making a move to oppose this though because it really just sends the wrong message.

It's not an issue of inconvenience. It's a privacy issue of people having to have their identity directly tied to sites they visit. In this case it just happens to be porn, but it's naive to think they won't use this as a foothold to try and expand it out to more places long term. "Look guys, it's for YoUr SaFeTy, honest". Government snooping at it's finest.

 

[envirovore]

Follow up headline:
Thousands of North Carolina residents information and Internet habits leaked via [insert sketchy free VPN provider name here] data breach/data leakage/advertising telemetry.

 

[nnguy2]

It's not an issue of inconvenience. It's a privacy issue of people having to have their identity directly tied to sites they visit. In this case it just happens to be porn, but it's naive to think they won't use this as a foothold to try and expand it out to more places long term. "Look guys, it's for YoUr SaFeTy, honest". Government snooping at it's finest.

All the states with these requirements are "mah freedoms" states

 

[Trapped Nowhere]

So what are they protesting exactly? They are upset because kids won't be able to see pornography from their site anymore? I understand why people might feel upset about an inconvenience of verifying their age. The site really shouldn't be making a move to oppose this though because it really just sends the wrong message.

Idk banning access in those states seems even better since it's blocking everyone at the detriment of the company. I know we're not gonna start pretending like the government cares about kids.

 

[Carlos GarPov]

This should be implemented world wide

 

[hahahanoobs]

I thought kids just looked at that anime cartoon stuff.

 

[BakaRed77]

It's not an issue of inconvenience. It's a privacy issue of people having to have their identity directly tied to sites they visit. In this case it just happens to be porn, but it's naive to think they won't use this as a foothold to try and expand it out to more places long term. "Look guys, it's for YoUr SaFeTy, honest". Government snooping at it's finest.

This is actually a really great point! The government doesn't have any business in what anyone does. Personally, I believe parents need to step up and mind their own children better and stop pretending the government has to limit the internet. Thank you for pointing out that aspect that I had not even considered when quickly skimming the article.

 

[VaRmeNsI]

Public safety is the alibi of tyrants.

 

[kiwigraeme]

I'm sure they have copies of National Geographic, or if not , they can peruse their partners mags - for adverts of women in lingerie - if they are straight.

Anyway , so effective at stopping the laziest and most stupid.

Montana has lots of cows, you can love them for heifer and heifer

 

[p51d007]

Wouldn't a VPN get around that?

 

[saladbarsmash]

It's not an issue of inconvenience. It's a privacy issue of people having to have their identity directly tied to sites they visit. In this case it just happens to be porn, but it's naive to think they won't use this as a foothold to try and expand it out to more places long term. "Look guys, it's for YoUr SaFeTy, honest". Government snooping at it's finest.

Exactly, it amazes me that people don't get this basic concept of privacy and freedom.

 

[saladbarsmash]

This should be implemented world wide

No it shouldn't, commie.

 

[ZedRM]

No it shouldn't, commie.

Yes it should. Porn needs to be heavily regulated and age-gated in the exact same way Tobacco and Alcohol are and with the same criminal penalties for violations.