Internet porn provider Pornhub says it will no longer market its wares in Nebraska. Why? Because Nebraska’s Republican government has passed a law (Legislative Law 1092) to prevent teens from accessing Internet porn. I could crack wise about the “Nanny State” or “Big Brother” — but I will treat their position on the subject seriously. You have to live under a rock not to realize that the X-rated material available on the Internet is not your father’s porn.
I am not a psychologist or a sexologist, so I cannot weigh in on the effect of the scope and type of pornography available today on developing minds. But for the sake of argument, let’s say that we should ‘do something’ about porn and minors. Is Nebraska’s requirement that porn providers check IDs a viable strategy to prevent the young from accessing porn?
Of course it isn’t. It will be as effective as passing ID laws to prevent teens from drinking, drugging, and smoking. Less so, in fact, as intoxicants are a physical product - while porn today is purely electronic.
Bearing that in mind, let’s have a look at the text of the law. It defines acceptable ID thus:
Digitized identification card means a data file that contains all of the data elements visible on the face and back of a government-issued operator's license or identification card and displays the current status of the license or card.
In short, the perspective porn consumer will have to provide a scanned image of both sides of a driver’s license — or the like. Although there are alternatives. As the law also says
Reasonable age verification method means a process to verify that the person attempting to access the material is at least eighteen years of age or older through the use of a digitized identification card, a third-party age verification service, or any commercially reasonable method that relies on public or private transactional data to verify the age of the person attempting to access the material.
I’m guessing that a “third-party age verification service” is like a digital notary public. And “public or private transactional data” are documents relating to actions only adults are allowed to do.
Regardless, knowing teenagers (I was one once), I suspect that many Nebraska parents have had their IDs scanned by their teenage offspring. However, that is hardly necessary for anyone who uses a VPN. Hence the headline of this diary.
Pornhub has said it will no longer allow access to anyone who it knows lives in Nebraska. But of course, they will supply their product to anyone who does not appear to live in Nebraska, or any of the other states that require ID to enjoy porn online.
I visit paddypower.com, a UK betting website to see the odds on British and European sporting events. Plus they also do US politics. The image below shows what happens with my VPN set to the US versus the UK.
Ironically, right now I am in neither country. I’m writing this diary in Mexico.
I wrote above that I would take the issue of porn and teens seriously. It is obvious that the Nebraska legislature, either through stupidity or cynicism, has chosen not to do so. Their law, like so much of the GOP’s social issue legislation, is nowt but political posturing. It does nothing to address those things they claim to be so concerned about.
Sex is part of growing up. Porn has always been a feature of the human experience. If Nebraska wants its children to be sexually informed and well-adjusted adults capable of establishing mature relationships, then it should require useful things like comprehensive sex education.
But being a Republican state, it does not. Nebraska schools are not required to teach sex education. Worse, schools that choose to provide any human sexuality instruction are required to follow an abstinence-only approach.
In short, Republican moralists congratulate themselves for passing do-nothing, feel-good measures that achieve nada, while they leave their children drowning in a sea of ignorance.
We don’t give kids the keys to a car and hope they’ll be good drivers. We know that would be asinine. It’s why we require drivers er’s ed. It’s not difficult.