Pornhub Is Now Blocked in Almost All of the U.S. South ⇥ 404media.co

Samantha Cole, 404 Media:

That law, passed as Act 440, was introduced by “sex addiction” counselor and state representative Laurie Schegel and quickly copied across the country. The exact phrasing varies, but in most states, the details of the law are the same: Any “commercial entity” that publishes “material harmful to minors” online can be held liable—meaning, tens of thousands of dollars in fines and/or private lawsuits—if it doesn’t “perform reasonable age verification methods to verify the age of individuals attempting to access the material.”

These and other worries about minors’ access to technology increasingly convinces me a device-level age verification standard is around the corner. A requirement for Apple and Google to age-restrict their app stores was proposed by U.S. legislators in November, but this would not affect users’ access to the web. I bet something changes on this front — and soon.