How to protect your privacy with the Utah porn ban

Louisiana recently passed legislation that forces adult sites to ask users for photo ID before granting them access. More than a dozen other states swiftly introduced extremely similar bills, and Utah’s version, called S.B. 287, came into effect on May 3, 2023.

There are several issues with this bill. First and foremost, many people won’t be comfortable providing their driver’s license to a company they know nothing about. Additionally, there’s no way to create a hack-proof system. In other words, a list of everyone who’s verified their age could be leaked, stolen, or sold, leading to real-world repercussions for some people. There’s precedent for this too: in 2015,  hackers released details of everyone who had signed up to Ashley Madison, a site dedicated to facilitating extra-marital affairs.

Luckily for privacy-conscious adults, it’s extremely easy to spoof your location and continue accessing porn sites like you’ve always done. All you have to do is connect to a Virtual Private Network (VPN), which will make it seem like you’re in a different state. This removes the age-verification requirement and what’s more, since VPNs encrypt your internet traffic, your ISP and government won’t be able to see which sites you visit.

How to get around Utah’s adult content restrictions with a VPN

Worried about the privacy impact of Utah’s new anti-porn bill? Just follow these steps to remain anonymous and bypass the age-blocking system entirely:

1. Start by signing up for a reputable VPN. We recommend ExpressVPN – it’s fast, user-friendly, and secure, plus it works with almost every streaming service we’ve tested
2. Log into the app and choose a server in a state that doesn’t have any age-verification requirements. Alternatively, just connect to a Canadian server, since this removes the need to consider state-specific legislation entirely
3. Wait a moment until you’re connected. Your IP address should now be pointing to a location outside of Utah, which tells adult sites that there’s no need to verify your age
4. We can test this by visiting a site like Pornhub. If you’re still seeing a press release, clear your cookies and refresh the page. You may also want to try a different server, or get in touch with your VPN’s support team for more advice

What exactly is the Utah porn ban?

Utah’s porn ban is officially known as S.B. 287 Online Pornography Viewing Age Requirements. It specifically states that sites whose content is more than 33.3 percent composed of adult material must obtain photo ID to verify users are over the age of 18 or become liable “for damages resulting from a minor’s accessing the material”. In other words, the parents could sue whichever site failed to enforce the restrictions. Sites have until May 1, 2024 to comply.

You’ll notice something interesting about this bill: it is just 115 lines long, and would be even shorter if not for the complex legal language used. In other words, it sets out what it wants but fails to actually go into any detail on how this change will be affected or what kind of licenses will be accepted. The bill also relies on personal interpretation, as it requires someone to decide whether “the material taken as a whole lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors”.

There’s even a strange loophole that allows organizations to broadcast pornography as part of legitimate reporting or informational broadcasts, even if they’d usually be subject to this law. To be frank, the bill itself appears to be almost an afterthought with very little consideration behind it.

Of course, this is just the latest of the Beehive State’s attempts to crack down on pornography. In 2021, it passed H.B. 72 Device Filter Amendments, which required all cell phones and tablets sold in Utah to come with an adult content filter enabled. This law doesn’t actually take effect until five other states pass similar measures, though.

How does Utah’s online age verification system work?

We don’t know yet and neither do lawmakers. The only stipulations present in S.B. 287 are that:

• ID must contain “all of the data elements visible on the face and back of a license or identification card and displays the current status of the license or identification card”
• Age-verification companies must compare this information to databases “regularly used by government agencies and businesses for the purpose of age and identity verification” OR use “any commercially reasonable method” to verify a user’s age, which may include examining mortgage, educational, or employment records
• Organizations performing these checks may not retain identifying information about any individual after access has been granted. In other words, you’ll have to verify yourself every single time you want to stream adult content

Without knowing exactly how these restrictions will be implemented, it’s difficult to list all of the ways they could be defeated. However, there are many potential problems, even assuming adult sites check the user’s IP address (similar to how sites like Netflix determine your location). For instance:

• A minor could simply use their parent’s ID to access adult sites
• Minors could bypass these restrictions with the use of VPNs or proxies
• People switch to using adult sites that aren’t based in the US
• Age-verification companies could inadvertently store personally-identifiable data
• The inherent unreliability of IP address geo-location causes people living near Utah’s border (but not IN Utah) to have to verify their ages
• To actually bring a claim against an adult site, parents have to first realize that their child has accessed it. They then have to prove damages in court
• There will inevitably be disagreements over whether a site’s content has artistic or scientific merit

What has the response been to Utah’s new adult content laws?

As you might expect, porn sites aren’t particularly pleased. Pornhub has actually begun blocking users in Utah preemptively, displaying a press release that raises concerns about privacy and this bill pushing users towards sites with fewer safety measures in place.

At the time of writing, there hasn’t been any public polling so we can’t tell what the average resident thinks. However, we do know that Google searches from the term “VPN” have spiked since this bill passed. In fact, it’s actually the state that searched for this term the most over the last week, which is surprising given that California alone has around 13 times the population.

On the plus side, this law is already being challenged. The Free Speech Coalition (an adult industry trade association) has brought an appeal, claiming that S.B. 287 violates the First Amendment rights of porn providers. This isn’t meritless, either, as the Supreme Court has previously struck down similar legislation for similar reasons, including in Ashcroft v. ACLU and Reno v. ACLU.

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