An Indiana law that requires pornographic websites to verify users’ ages — one of numerous such statutes in effect across the country — is being challenged by an association of the adult entertainment industry.

In April, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a request by the same group, the Free Speech Coalition, to block a similar law in Texas.

According to the Indiana law signed by Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb in March, the state’s attorney general and individuals can bring legal action against a website’s operator if material “harmful to minors” is accessible to users under the age of 18.

In addition to Indiana and Texassimilar laws have been enacted in Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Oklahoma, Utah and Virginia. Backers of such laws say they protect children from widespread pornography online, while opponents say the laws are vague and raise privacy concerns.

    • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      Imagine if we passed a law requiring every politician to submit their browser history to the public in order to run for office…

      • humorlessrepost@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        Considering it’s already available to the NSA, it would be an improvement. At least we’d know if/how they’re compromised.

          • lemonmelon@lemmy.world
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            Firstly, because seeking public office should not incur a complete loss of privacy.

            Secondly, because what we’d see would likely be mortifying.

            I mean there’s probably some things there that simply can never be unseen. No amount of brain bleach could ever suffice.

            • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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              5 months ago

              Firstly, because seeking public office should not incur a complete loss of privacy.

              Disagree entirely. Once you are a public figure, you no longer have a right to privacy. And people have a right to know if you’re going to Nazi websites.

              Secondly, because what we’d see would likely be mortifying.

              Good. Then those people won’t get elected.

              • lemonmelon@lemmy.world
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                5 months ago

                The second half was a joke about fetishes. Some could seem bizarre to others while ultimately benign. That it didn’t land with you is informative.

                Your response, in general, is troubling in its shortsightedness. Stripping away all privacy as a requirement for office is not the filter you want it to be. Recent history illustrates that certain movements are unfazed by repulsive behavior as long as they believe a candidate will get them what they want. With that in mind, who would stand to be damaged most by your proposed requirement: the candidate who visited Nazi websites or the one whose browser history includes research on how to help someone legally obtain an abortion?

                Taking it further, who do you suppose would be most likely to use such information to self-cannibalize, the already barely cohesive left or the increasingly monolithic right? Consider that the post-9/11 reality we live in has seen both a constant erosion of personal privacy and a steady shift towards fascism, and ask yourself if you can honestly say that the two are unrelated. In this scenario, who truly benefits from stripping away privacy rights from those seeking office?

                You suggest a law that would almost certainly be weaponized, which I do believe is your intent, but the most likely targets aren’t who you seem to think they would be.

                • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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                  5 months ago

                  So I take it you’d be fine with Nazis and KKK members being in office and no one knowing that until after they’re dead.

          • disguy_ovahea@lemmy.world
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            That poor ninth guy doesn’t have a guy to blow him. That’s just poor planning really. It would make more sense to have nine blowers, with a guy doubling up on rotation.

    • SkyezOpen@lemmy.world
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      Do they draw straws to determine who takes 2 to the face, or do they kinda rotate and leave one guy out at a time? The people demand answers!

      • SturgiesYrFase@lemmy.ml
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        I’d like to think the 9th wheel just wanders around the group poking dudes in the face with his dick and in his most creeper voice saying stuff like:
        Uhhhhhnnnnn…yeah…you like that don’t you…nnnnnnnnn…

        And everyone else is really put off by it, and like the whole blow flow gets out of whack, dudes going soft left and right…

        Hmmm…I think my imagination got away from me a bit there…

  • 555@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    I think everyone should have to verify they are 18 to go to church.

  • gedaliyah@lemmy.worldM
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    Has there every actually been a moral panic that helped society? Can we just stop with that and let people live their lives?

      • psivchaz@reddthat.com
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        A moral panic is when people freak out because they’re scared for the nation’s morals or values. The Jungle made people, rightfully, freak out about their health (whether that was the intention or not). I don’t think it qualifies as a moral panic.

        • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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          people freak out because they’re scared for the nation’s morals or values

          I would consider the labor conditions depicted in The Jungle, The Pearl, Of Mice And Men, and Grapes of Wrath worthy of a national moral panic.

          • psivchaz@reddthat.com
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            Worthy, sure. I just mean that what actually happened with The Jungle was people focused on how gross meat packing facilities were. The working conditions were treated as kind of a secondary, less important issue.

    • GraniteM@lemmy.world
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      If you believe that laws forbidding gambling, sale of liquor, sale of contraceptives, requiring definite closing hours, enforcing the Sabbath, or any such, are necessary to the welfare of your community, that is your right and I do not ask you to surrender your beliefs or give up your efforts to put over such laws. But remember that such laws are, at most, a preliminary step in doing away with the evils they indict. Moral evils can never be solved by anything as easy as passing laws alone. If you aid in passing such laws without bothering to follow through by digging in to the involved questions of sociology, economics, and psychology which underlie the causes of the evils you are gunning for, you will not only fail to correct the evils you sought to prohibit but will create a dozen new evils as well.

      Robert A. Heinlein, Take Back Your Government

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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      Has there every actually been a moral panic that helped society?

      The concern we had over the depleted ooze layer and lead contamination in paint and gasoline was nice.

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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    As a Hoosier, I can tell you that porn sites aren’t even complying with that law at this point. I can tell you for… reasons.

    • 555@lemmy.world
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      I wish I could get a vpn specifically in those states just to look at porn and fuck up the numbers. 😇

      You can always be a disruptor. Even when wanking.

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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        If I must, I will take one for the team and look at porn while here in Indiana.

        The sacrifices I have to make…

        • 555@lemmy.world
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          Make sure to search for fucked up stuff like “conservative tranny school girl fucked by politician father in airport bathroom while reading from the Bible”

      • bobs_monkey@lemm.ee
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        I’ve set my VPN to Texas and Louisiana just to see what happens, but I sure as hell am not uploading a picture of my ID.

    • RaoulDook@lemmy.world
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      The bigger sites that most people know about are complying and blocking some states.

      But there are countless other sites with plenty options that don’t care about those state laws. It’s unstoppable

  • Fedizen@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    make phone vendors verify user ages to pay for apps and shit and this stuff will go away overnight.

  • Rhaedas@fedia.io
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    Just out of curiosity of the details of some of these laws I read one of the bills mentioned (the one from OK). One of the sections removes any liability from internet providers and search engines from giving access to a site since they can’t control what a particular site content has. So I read that as Bing or Google is fine to show kids an image or video search…good security there…

  • werefreeatlast@lemmy.world
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    And me too! Sign me up! When I grow up I want to be a pornographer. That’s my passion for life. That’s what I want to do as a retired person. Please don’t screw it up before I get my chance!

  • njm1314@lemmy.world
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    I wonder if this would apply to those Christian websites that have the entire Bible on them.

  • Sir_Kevin@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    God damnit, now I have to figure out how to block all these states from accessing my website. Ain’t nobody got time for that!