What the US PornHub ‘ban’ is really about
What the US PornHub ‘ban’ is really about
Age verification laws designed to block children from online porn sites are sweeping the US, Io Dodds writes. But do they actually protect children, or is there another agenda at work?
Summary
Several U.S. states have enacted laws requiring pornography sites, such as PornHub, to implement age verification to prevent minors' access, prompting the site’s parent company, Aylo, to block access in affected states.
Proponents argue these laws protect children, while critics highlight privacy risks, inefficiencies, and potential censorship.
These measures reflect growing social conservatism, with some advocates aiming to restrict adult content broadly.
While privacy-focused age verification methods exist, regulatory clarity is lacking.
Critics warn these laws may suppress responsible platforms, favoring unregulated alternatives, and escalate broader culture wars around sexuality and LGBTQ+ rights.
So no one wants to talk about how maybe we should just be talking to our kids about sexuality? This is just the absence only crowd again. And of course it's taking the rest of our liberties with it but can we stop framing this has tech was of protecting children here? It's Trojan horse bullshit.
Mad conservative computer scientists: "Yes, using the fear that kids might see porno, we will soon require the implementation of the impossible device: Anonymous age verification! Since no one will be able to implement it, we will ban all pornography off the internet!"
Mad liberal computer scientists: : "Using generative AI, anyone can now produce any porno they want, even offline! And the interface is so easy that even a kid can use it!"
Porn companies: "We will have the computer take a picture of you and analyze your age to grant access."
Users: Uses generative AI to generate fake pictures to get access to real porn.
It’s there like, 3,000,000 other porn sites people can use? I don’t hover how this is a victory in any form.
don't even for a second think this is in favour of you.
it's some weird christian idea that the human must be "purified" and watching porn stops that. it's about an ideology, not about you or your wellbeing.
Right. "Protecting children". Meanwhile, lowering the age range for child workers...
"No beating off! You need to save your energy for the night shift."
https://clockify.me/learn/business-management/minimum-working-age-by-state/
they keep saying its about trans people but then they keep blocking porn so i don't know what it is. i think christians and conservatives are stupid as fuck
Every time that a conservative equates the mere existence of trans people with sex, they're just outing their own kink.
it's mostly because the red hats love trans porn, and hate themselves for loving trans porn, and they just need a little help resisting temptation
Socially accepted mental illness
"it's for the children" is always a red flag
classic fascist tactic. there's a reason half of the 14 words is about children
step
- declare children don't understand the world
- declare children can't make reasonable choices
- parents and officials now get to decide what children do or don't
- have obedient slaves.
Except when it's Wu-Tang!
Depends on the context. After WW2 a lot of great things were done in favour of future generations, or the children of that time.
In these times hate is being used to divide us while at the same time it's socially and morally unacceptable to justify certain views, thus they look for pseudo reasons to mask their true reasons, in this case -for the children". Unfortunately we're also entering a time where the psuedo reasons start becoming obsolete as hate mongering is being accepted.
So i gotta disagree on the always, but it's true for these times.
"Another method, used in Germany, lets people show their ID card at a post office and get a unique ID to access adult sites. This could potentially be done without logging the person’s identity, but as CNIL points out such systems require much work to set up."
This exactly what I was thinking of while reading the article. It's just like going to a bar and getting carded. As long as no info is stored, I would be fine with this if were seriously looking for a solution for the kids
When I got my first smart phone, to access adult media and even Facebook, I needed to go in to a shop and verify my age using ID and they edited my account details, with this phone I had an instantly refunded penny charge on my credit card. There are very simple ways around it, which they apparently aren’t interested in.
They're compiling a list and they'll find a way to use it against you. Anyone who thinks the age-verification services won't share their data with the states is naive. Use a VPN and only pay using an anonymous prepaid card, and if that doesn't work, pirate the content.
While privacy-focused age verification methods exist
What might those be, and have they been reviewed by anyone with actual knowledge of security?
"While privacy-focused age verification methods exist, regulatory clarity is lacking."
It's not lacking clarity. Privacy-focused age verification is simply not wanted by big tech and politically (because money from big tech) as they wouldn't be able to collect and make money with building profiles of what you do online.
It's a classic tactic, use a somewhat legitimate concern (Minors having access to pornography). And blow it far out of proportion, and use it as an excuse to crackdown on what you're really after. You will see people defending these bans because the "reasoning" they're being presented SEEMS rational, but unwittingly they're supporting a mass crackdown on their own rights.
See also: The constant push by governments to take away our right to private (encrypted) communications.
ItS tO prOteCT the CHILDRen's comMUNIcaTIoN.
yeah no for sure and that's why we should all install spyware onto our phones. there's no "switch in the settings" to turn it off. (for a recent example, see the EU commission's newest proposals.)
somewhat legitimate concern (Minors having access to pornography).
Counterpoint: accessing pornography is part of growing up.
So, to an extent sure, I don't think it's some horrible thing for simply moralistic reasons, everyone has to discover their sexuality one way or another. However, I do think maybe having an entire digital library of smut dumped in your lap the moment you have access to a smartphone and some private time is probably not good for your sexual development. Ideally we'd just have parents/guardians use some common sense and take advantage of parental controls to limit access. But, we both know that many are neglectful or simply busy with trying to make ends meet to constantly monitor these things. Is the right answer government intervention? I'm personally more than a little skeptical, but I can see why some people see it as a valid concern.
Won't someone pleeeeeease think of the children!
Fascists view sexuality as a threat to their movements.
Also: laughing, knowing things, joy.
sexuality is the core of human desire, and if you suppress that, you suppress the development of the individual's sense of self-determination. that's why it's so important to the government so suppress sexuality.
there are other reasons, of course. for example, almost everyone nowadays is overworked, and of course that leads to a decline in relationships.
also, people are stronger together. sexuality brings people together. if you can suppress the sexuality of large swaths of people, you can basically hinder the forming of social coherence and community.
Fascists view knowledge as a threat. They use sexuality as another means of segregation.
They view it as another tool to oppress us. They know it's not a threat to them. The only threat to them is organized resistance.
With this method, users take a photo of their face which is then analyzed by AI to estimate their age. Tombs says this involves no analysis of the user’s actual identity, and that all photos are deleted once the check is finished. Hence, neither Yoti nor the porn site ever needs to know who you are.
No. Fuck no. Just… wow.
Just like the tsa deleted all the body scan images after the subject left the scanner.
I rate they're intending to keep those photos, but will stop when an exec with a little bit of humanity has a change of heart after checking the database when he realises he is looking into the eyes of a unkempt man with visible depression who is going to spend the next 15 minutes trying to settle on a video and another two minutes masturbating.
when an exec with a little bit of humanity has a change of heart
It might stop when the DB gets compromised and some exec gets threatened with the release of all his weird kinks going public.
You know you really didn't have to call me out so viscerally like that.
So everybody looks like the picture on Epstein's Wikipedia now? How dumb is this?
What stops you from taking a picture of a picture of some random adult's face?
Everyone should just upload a picture of Trump.
While privacy-focused age verification methods exist
verification methods may 'exist', but there are exactly zero which can guarantee security and privacy.
The are absolutely ways to have a 100% anonymous and private age verification. None of the parties here are interested in implementing them though.
"trust me bro" isn't good enough for you? What're you hiding?
Don't you know the government is "If you have nothing to hide you should have nothing to be worried about"-pilled?
There's no reliable way to verify age without extensive face verification with liveliness checks. A child can easily upload a parent's or some other adult's id card photo to get 'verified'. Also nothing stops kids to explore porn corners of social media (including lemmy) and thousands of porn sites operated not by the Big Porn. Porn is fundamental to internet.
Edit: I purposefully omitted vpn, that being the most trivial solution.
That's all besides the point however.
If a young kid is motivated by highschool seniors to watch porn, it is s parenting issue. If some adult encourages some child to watch porn as a grooming technique that's a much more serious case of child abuse. If a teenager is porn addict and doesn't do anything else, it is a major mental health concern, not a porn concern itself.
It is kind of accepted fact that many late teenagers are familiar with porn and explore it like any other sexual aspects of their life. Whether that's harmful is upto debate but teenagers/adults do many things harmful everyday and banning everything with law isn't realistic either. It is not end of the world if a teenager has sex or watches a porn movie. Children have greater dangers in general where they get abused by their relatives, teachers and even by their own parents and are continuously attempted to be programmed not to critically think by the religions.
All the good shit is on the tubes anyway, these major players just get the “YouTube” style repetitive porn, or teaser trailers for paid content.
We miss you, Larry Flynt. (Not really, he sucked in other ways a great deal, but he at least fought the good fight in this domain)
I loved it when he decided to get revenge on Republicans prosecuting Clinton for getting a blowjob by publishing and distributing a single-issue magazine filled with detailed information about prominent congressmen and their mistresses.
Like you said, he was a piece of shit in a lot of ways, but he did a few things I will happily remember him for.
His gross side is exactly what allowed him to shamelessly do his advocacy work.
Theofascism and control. Growing the power of the state to dictate what is “acceptable“ and what is “unacceptable“.
Just remember this: everything Republicans/fascists do is designed to hurt everyone but themselves in order to squeeze for more power. If you even doubt this for a second, you are complicit. An enabler. A collaborator.
You’re just as guilty as they are.
The most surprising thing to me is that PornHub is owned by a multinational Canada based private equity firm Aylo. I guess surprising might not be the right word, maybe morbidly reassuring that no one escapes from the slimy hands of late capitalism.
Yeah, let's get back to small business "mom and pop" pornography vendors!
I'm gonna be honest, I think it is good to restrict to make sure its not so easy to access for kids. Also, I think porn just demeans women and pushes that they're just a piece of meat.
A conversation can be had about if the way the restriction was done was good or bad or if it can be done in a better way.
You’re kind of missing the point entirely. We already know that the current methods used to verify age aren’t privacy-respecting and only serve to block legitimate use.
Several U.S. states have enacted laws requiring pornography sites, such as PornHub, to implement age verification to prevent minors' access
Doesn't seem too unreasonable. When I buy alcohol I have to provide verification that I'm over 21.
The thing is, how do they enforce it? People in those states can still access pornhub through a VPN. Plus, what about all the other many, many porn sites?
I get what they're trying to do, but I think there are some logistics that haven't really been thought out.
You’re kind of missing the point entirely. We already know that the current methods used to verify age aren’t privacy-respecting and only serve to block legitimate use.
All I'm saying is I don't think the age verification requirement, in and of itself, is unreasonable. I'm not necessarily in opposition to better, more privacy-respecting verification methods, nor am I necessarily opposed to, for instance the age verification requirement being lifted until better age verification technology can be developed. All I'm saying is I personally do not find the age verification requirement itself to be unreasonable. That's it.
They expect the porn provider to verify age/id through very invasive and onerous means. It is in no way reasonable or secure to give some random porn site a copy of your government ID. They will get hacked; not if, when.
They will get hacked; not if, when.
Not only that, it turns any site that doesn't just outright block the age verification states into a massive target.
They, meaning the people behind the bans, have thought it through perfectly well. They are counting on milquetoast centrists to ‘both sides’ the issue so they can start to attack LGBTQ+ people and their concerns as being inherently indecent.
But that's just it, they have thought about the logistics. We already have Meta changing their rules to allow LGBTQ + people to be called "mentally ill" with no repercussions.
The Great Firewall of China isn't an accident, it's actually how internet hardware like routers and switches are built to work from the ground up, with security like access control lists, as well as logging connections and seeing what data goes where and so on. That's the scary thing about the internet, it just takes people wanting to turn it into a draconian nightmare to flip a few switches. I mean, really, the US already has but it just feels like it less because of the release valve of "free speech." The NSA Utah datacenter has been around for a while now.
They have thought about the logistics, and they want to bring those kind of controls here. As always the plan is to control what happens online. Musk has definitely made some weird and creepy comments about "making lists" and while he's an idiot, he's got the tools and people to make it happen.
They couch it in a reasonable position to start the path to blocking access to content about sexuality for anyone. When youre a queer kid growing up and being told that it's just the devil's work and other bullshit the internet and being able to talk about your experience was the first freeing thing you could do in your life. It also lead to women having higher standards because women could communicate more and not be isolated by their male partners controlling behavior. Conservatives fucking hate that. This kind of ban could ban that kind of speech online, and I firmly believe it's intended to.
When I buy alcohol I have to provide verification that I'm over 21
I was unaware that porn could kill you.
I never said that it could.
Are you suggesting that it should be legal to sell alcohol to children so long as it's not a lethal amount? Should a kid be able to buy a single beer? It's not like it's going to kill them.
What about selling physical media pornography in a store to children? Should that be legal? It's not going to kill them. Should a kid be able to walk into a porn store and slap down his allowance for a copy of Hardcore Anal Superstars 2?