A Republican-authored bill that would require websites hosting pornography and other “material harmful to minors” to verify the age of users was unanimously passed by the Indiana Senate’s Judiciary Committee on Wednesday.
Senate Bill 17 would mandate that internet users provide proof that they are over 18 before accessing adult content online — for instance, by scanning a government-issued ID or by registering with a third-party age verification service — is scheduled to go before the full Senate on second reading during Tuesday’s session.
Indiana would be the latest in a string of Republican-leaning states to pass age verification legislation, which has prompted a backlash from the pornography industry and free speech advocates. In August, the nonprofit Free Speech Coalition, a nonprofit trade group for the adult industry, filed a federal lawsuit to block Texas’s law on the grounds that it failed the “strict scrutiny test” that governs free speech cases. The legal principle holds that a law restricting speech must addresses a strong government interest and be implemented using the least restrictive means available.
In an amicus brief — a third party court filing offering supplemental arguments in a legal case — the American Civil Liberties Union claimed that the law “burdens Texans’ ability to access lawful sexual material online” and threatens the privacy of internet users.
The court initially sided with the plaintiffs, granting an injunction that blocked the Texas Attorney General from enforcing the law, but in November, the United States Fifth Circuit vacated the injunction.
Age verification laws have led some adult sites to simply pull out of certain states rather than implement a proof of age system. Pornhub, the world’s most-visited adult site, has blocked visitors in an ever-growing list of states that now includes North Carolina, Montana, Utah, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Virginia.
SB 17 would make publishing an adult website without age verification procedures a Class A misdemeanor, upgraded a Level 6 felony for repeat offenses, and would allow individuals in Indiana to sue website operators who violate the law. The bill clarifies that a site may not retain the identifying information used to verify a person’s identity, unless required by a court order.
Though all 10 members of the Judiciary Committee ultimately voted to pass the legislation, some voiced free speech concerns and reservations about the law’s efficacy during Wednesday’s hearing.
State Sen. Rodney Pol, D-Chesterton, noted that minors in states where age verification laws have taken effect have been able to skirt the new restrictions using virtual private networks — software that can allow a user to access the internet as if they were in a different location. In the months since the first age verification laws went into effect, articles and social media posts explaining how to circumvent the restrictions have proliferated online.
In the Indiana House of Representatives, Republican lawmakers have proposed four similar bills, all of which are currently awaiting hearings in the House Judiciary Committee.
Indiana law designates material “harmful to minors” if it “describes or represents, in any form, nudity, sexual conduct, sexual excitement, or sado-masochistic abuse,” if “considered as a whole, it appeals to the prurient interest in sex of minors,” if “it is patently offensive to prevailing standards in the adult community as a whole with respect to what is suitable matter for or performance before minors,” and if “considered as a whole, it lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors.”
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