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Pornhub Pulls Out of Nebraska

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Re: Pornhub Pulls Out of Nebraska

#61
What is the gold standard for age verification online? Is there one?

I could take my ID to the library / police station, have it verified, and then get given a USB stick with 16GB’s worth of signed government tokens from a big bucket of unmarked hardware. I guess a bad site could still narrow down who I am to my nearest library / police station though.

Proof-of-age tokens that aren’t tied to my ID have the downside that they are transferable. Kind of like a case of beer is transferable from an adult to a child.

Is there a better way of keeping are-you-old-enough separate from who-are-you?

Re: Pornhub Pulls Out of Nebraska

#62
How do they make money? What's their revenue stream? Who's paying $ when most content is for free, and when people really want to pay they go to OF. I know the phrase that when the product is free, then I'm the product, but even then, how do they make money from customers' mostly-incognito data?

Re: Pornhub Pulls Out of Nebraska

#63
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or, just choose not to consume online pornography if you don't want to share your identity documents with a verification service. It really is that simple.

Or, just don't pass laws that impinge on people's freedom and privacy. It really is that simple.

Not that I agree with the parent comment but this is pretty much the only thing that laws do. If you start with the assumption that something is legal and only think differently when there's a law that says it's not, then you're not too far off from the practical reality.

Re: Pornhub Pulls Out of Nebraska

#64
post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If all drug stores everywhere colluded to record your ID permanently, the analogy might make sense. There is a right to access porn anonymously if both parties consent. You need to prove that the government has an overriding need to insert itself in the middle.

I'm not sure about Nebraska's law, but the law only states PH acquires proof, not keep a record of the license. That means PornHub could hire people to view the license on a live feed and then click yes / no.

Saying "Just bankrupt yourself to comply" isn't really an option. It's much like laws restricting abortion that are unsecretly trying to make it de facto illegal.

Re: Pornhub Pulls Out of Nebraska

#65
post #39
post #20

This is good news. Here's hoping for a federal law that makes age verification for pornographic content a requirement across all states. There's no reason why these sites shouldn't shoulder their share of the responsibility to prevent children from accessing this content. It's really quite telling that Pornhub is removing itself from all markets where it's mandated to do this. Like all dealers of addictive and abusiv…

I'm so tired of this "won't someone think of the children" argument. What exactly do you propose that isn't wildly invasive and over-complicated?

There are loads of things that require age verification to prevent children accessing them. Why is porn apparently so special? Bit suspicious tbh.

Re: Pornhub Pulls Out of Nebraska

#66
post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure about Nebraska's law, but the law only states PH acquires proof, not keep a record of the license. That means PornHub could hire people to view the license on a live feed and then click yes / no.

Saying "Just bankrupt yourself to comply" isn't really an option. It's much like laws restricting abortion that are unsecretly trying to make it de facto illegal.

How lovely of you to think of the pornographers' bank balances above all else.

Re: Pornhub Pulls Out of Nebraska

#67
post #65
post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm so tired of this "won't someone think of the children" argument. What exactly do you propose that isn't wildly invasive and over-complicated?

There are loads of things that require age verification to prevent children accessing them. Why is porn apparently so special? Bit suspicious tbh.

What internet sites are required to do age verification beyond clicking a "Yes, I'm of age button"?

Re: Pornhub Pulls Out of Nebraska

#68

I wonder what age verification system Pornhub would want. I mean if they actually do want one (dubious) and they don't want to deal with people's IDs (very sensible) then they could propose one. I would have thought it's pretty easy. Have a government site that verifies your ID and just produces some kind of cryptographic token that porn sites can verify but reveals nothing other than the fact that you are over 18. I…

It's not really a question of what PH would want, but what the states will accept.

The government isn't going to provide an age identification program, because they really don't want to enable people to watch porn. This isn't about protecting the kiddies; it's about keeping porn out entirely.

And PornHub knows perfectly well that nothing they do will satisfy a state prosecutor looking to harass them. Even if they collected photo IDs, police will set up a sting with fake IDs.

So they give the government what it wants. They leave. As you said, anybody with a VPN gets their porn just fine, but the government cares more about the perception of morality than actual morality.

Re: Pornhub Pulls Out of Nebraska

#69
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's stigmatized for good reason. The amount of abuse within the pornography industry is immense. Anyone with any decent of ethics would refrain from consuming this material.

>>Anyone with any decent of ethics would refrain from consuming this material. What, like....all porn? There are plenty of amateur couples who upload incredibly tender, loving and respectful videos of their love life to PH. Why are you bundling everything together with the exploitative stuff?

Just looking at the front page of Pornhub right now:

"Stepmother and son share a bed in a hotel"

"Fake taxi Bengali nurse takes a big cock in her tight Asian pussy"

"Petite blonde whore opening her ass for me to demolish"

You want children watching this?

Re: Pornhub Pulls Out of Nebraska

#70
post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The issue with your idea, other than the obvious free speech stuff, is that it is not possible to stop offshore sites from posting content without an age verification. All this would do is move everyone from onshore sites like pornhub to offshore sites that have zero regulation at all. You dont see how that is worse than the status quo?

There are plenty of solutions for that already in place. Child sex abuse sites get blocked, for example. Even forums like Kiwi Farms have carriers blackholing them. No reason why this can't be similarly enforced for porn sites that skirt the age verification rules.

Interesting that this is being suggested in a thread where someone is throwing around accusations of hyperbole. At least you're not beating around the dystopic bush.

I hope that you never find yourself on the receiving end of this process. You might think that you have nothing to hide, as many have throughout history before finding out that they were quite wrong.

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