OKLAHOMA CITY — The Oklahoma Senate this week passed the state’s version of age verification legislation sponsored nationwide by anti-porn religious conservative activists, after a lengthy debate in which lawmakers expressed reservations about the bill.
SB 1959 introduced by Republican Senator Jerry Alvord, a horse rancher, and differs from similar measures being discussed in other states in that it would “require companies like Pornhub to provide Internet service subscribers and cell phone users in Oklahoma with a way to opt out of access to material they consider harmful to minors,” Tulsa World reported.
“Upon receiving such a request, the company should block access to its site for any device associated with the individual’s Internet service or mobile plan,” the Tulsa World report said.
During the debate, Senate Minority Leader Kay Floyd (D) said, “We know that this type of language is being challenged and challenged in court. My concern is that we are suing the state. It’s going to be expensive, … (and) we’re going to lose.”
The Tulsa World article noted that SB 1959 would potentially make sites that fail to comply with an opt-out request liable for damages.
“However, they were able to avoid that outcome by using ‘reasonable age verification’ methods to restrict access to content,” the paper explains. “The Public Prosecution Service would be tasked with developing and publishing guidelines that commercial entities must follow in complying with the law.”
Alvord said the measure would only apply to sites where more than 30% of the material is considered pornographic, to which Democratic Senator Julia Kirt responded: “We also don’t know who is going to make the decision on the 30% threshold. So it’s very much like Big Brother determining what a family has access to.”
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“They don’t realize it, but they’re describing RTA — an opt-in tag invented by the porn industry to identify our sites and give people the ability to opt out en masse,” Stabile wrote. “We have been using it for decades.”
“This is why you bring the adult industry into discussions,” Stabile added. “The world is suddenly on fire when it comes to children online, but we have been working on these issues for years. If you would stop demonizing us, you would find that we know more about this, and how to stop it, than anyone else. Why create a complicated system where a parent literally has to write to every porn site and ask them to block their home, when ISP filters and device level filters exist that use RTA?