Pornhub goes dark in Arkansas after age verification law kicks in::Pornhub operator MindGeek has blocked all users in Arkansas from the site after the state’s new age verification law went into effect.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Pornhub operator MindGeek has blocked all users in Arkansas from the site after the state’s new age verification law went into effect on Tuesday.
The Arkansas law, SB 66, doesn’t ban Pornhub from operating in the state, but it requires porn sites to verify that a user is 18 by confirming their age with identifying documents.
On Wednesday, Pornhub blocked all traffic from IP addresses based in Arkansas in protest, arguing that the law, which was intended to protect children, actually harms users.
“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,” MindGeek wrote in a message replacing the site’s front page for affected users.
Responding to this wave of bans, MindGeek has decided to block access to its sites from states where the laws have gone into effect.
So, instead of rolling out age verification systems, it says it decided to block access entirely, calling on users to contact their state representatives to oppose these laws.
I’m a bot and I’m open source!
Having one in link posts really should be mandatory in the rules for most communities
I appear to be in the small minority, but I do not think we should be relying on an AI to summarize stories for us because the AI doesn’t actually know what are important details.
What is the expectation for compliance here? Are users supposed to scan their physical ID and upload that to PH, then PH checks age against that?
The bill says that commercial entities serving pornography are required to do age verification through either verifying a driver’s license, verifying another piece of government-issued identification, or through the use of any commercially viable age verification mechanism.
So, yeah, I’d imagine compliance to look like either uploading a photograph or scan of an identity card or document for the site operators to check, or uploading it to an affiliated service which does age verification on their behalf.
Which is obviously horrendous from a privacy and information security standpoint for the consumer, and exposes the site operator to costs and legal risk associated with verifying and storing sensitive personal information.
Oh no. I’m in Arkansas.
Guess I’ll turn on the VPN.
I recommend using Tor browser as an alternate option. For anybody who can’t use a VPN or doesn’t want to.
I’m not sure if streaming 1080p video over Tor would be very appreciated by the rest of the network. Or that it would be a very pleasant experience.
Do you always stream porn in 1080p? I guess I never thought about the quality, but I honestly don’t expect anything more than 720
I think a vpn is simpler than tor personally. Also then videos gonna be buffering for a minute on tor lol
It’s not “simpler” at all because it includes the step of paying. But, indeed, better for this application.
I grew up there. The northern part of the state is honestly one of the prettiest parts of our country. It is also filled with some of the most vile people. Vile people from everywhere else go there to retire and add to the smegma pot.
I’m European so I don’t know that much about stuff like this, but isn’t it kinda easy to move from state to state in US?
It is a beautiful state, especially the part in the ozark mountains. But there is no way I could live there because of the people. It also lacks a single great city (Little Rock is a dump).
Who in their right mind would expect a free porn site to go to this level of hassle?
Or is this a puritanical measure in disguise?
It’s the second one. I saw article where they talked how Florida was the first to pass it, pornhub put time and money into developing what they needed to comply and saw a 90% decrease in traffic because nobody wants to hand over their ID for free porn.
After MindGeek started complying with the Louisiana law earlier this year, the company said traffic dropped by 80 percent.
It’s literally in the linked article lol
Pornhub would make more money simply starting a vpn service rather than try to gather IDs
Ohhhh fuck is it viewer’s age verification… I assumed it was the people in the porn… As if this is gonna stop horny kids from seeing porn
When this happened in Utah a few months ago, Google searches for VPN increased in like over 1000%.
The best Free VPN IMO is ProtonVPN,
For a general user that just wants a comprehensive google replacement, proton unlimited at $12/mo is a pretty good deal. Comes with the VPN premium and a password manager (now).
I do not understand the need to have your passwords stored somewhere in the cloud. I’d better sync them by a wire if I had several devices, not like passwords change every day. And there are cheaper VPNs out there with better reputation.
Especially since PornHub has an excellent point. Even though they theoretically could do an ID check, the sketchier porn sites simply wouldn’t. All these laws would do is push minors to use more dangerous porn sites. They’re not going to not watch porn just because the big, law abiding site checks IDs.
Well that’s a thumbnail lol
