RICHMOND, Va. — Virginia lawmakers have passed a bill requiring online pornography websites to do more to verify a person is 18 years old before gaining access to the site. The bill now heads to Gov. Glenn Youngkin's desk for his signature, but some are raising data privacy concerns.
The bill, SB1515, would require adult sites to take further steps beyond entering a date of birth, such as making users submit copies of government-issued IDs, to access websites with pornographic content. Introduced by William R. Stanley, the bill received nearly unanimous support.
Under the bill, a lawsuit could be brought against a site who did not use proper verification measures.
The Virginia bill is similar to one recently passed in Louisiana, which requires residents to prove they are at least 18 by entering in their government ID to access pornographic websites. The age verification is required by all websites containing content with 33.3% or more pornographic material. The Louisiana law requires third-party vendors to verify the age of users.
Some say these types of bills could lead to bigger privacy issues. A recent report from Common Sense Media that 58% of teens aged 13-17 have seen adult content accidentally – 18% of which reported that it was on social media. Those against the bill say that since social media sites are not reach the threshold of 33.3% of pornographic material, the bill would do nothing to protect young people.
The Free Speech Coalition said age verification legislation opens the door to cyber criminals, as well.
"In addition to the risks inherent in transmitting this data to reputable age verification providers, the introduction of this kind of scheme creates a massive opportunity for criminals. Personal information regarding sex and sexuality is highly sensitive, and criminals are adept at exploiting this," The Free Speech Coalition said.
Users on social media websites like Reddit were similarly concerned about the bill.
"And this legislation does exactly what for the people of VA," one user wrote.
Despite concerns and objections online, the bill now heads to Gov. Glenn Youngkin's desk for signature.
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