A Californian bill to mandate age verification for adult content is set to be derailed by the California State Senate Judiciary Committee accepting an amendment from the adult industry, creating an “ill-defined means of compliance for adult websites”. The amendment requires no further action for adult sites and merely makes a voluntary policy that sites already adhere to mandatory, says the Age Verification Providers Association.
The regulation, initially passed by a state assembly 65-0, meets criticism for the incorrect emphasis on smartphone operating systems designating users as minors, instead of a legal entity implementing this to therefore restrict minors’ access to pornographic sites.
“An operating system itself cannot designate a user as a minor, it is just software code. So, it needs to be a legal entity on whom this obligation is placed for this option to be implemented. The Bill does not specify whom this is”, the Age Verification Providers Association said.
No legal entities for this role are included in the scope for the Bill.
The majority of adult websites adhere to the Restricted to Adult (RTA) watermark.
“The result of this amendment is that the porn sites need do nothing different from today, and when the Bill comes into force absolutely nothing will change”.
“Not one child in California will be better protected from exposure to pornography as a result of this Bill with this amendment included”.
The Age Verification Providers Association, despite voting in the Assembly, have decidedly to retract their support for this amendment of the Bill.
