https://techcrunch.com/2023/07/03/pornhub-blocks-access-in-mississippi-virginia-and-utah-amid-changing-laws/
Pornhub proposes that on-device age verification is the solution to the privacy issues inherent in online age checks.
[ sourced from TechCrunch ]
I'm really starting to sense a major paradigm shift in the internet starting to take place. Inane policies like this, coupled with the backwards decisions that the major social media companies seem to be making really make me anxious to see what the Web is going to look like in a couple of years. Hopefully we'll see more federated services pop up, shielded by the direct influence of corporations and overbearing governments. But the cynic in me tells me this may be too much to wish for.
I see another shift beginning too- people starting to take decentralized services seriously. The fediverse gives me hope for a return to more of the Wild West days of early internet and more collaboration.
I was also wondering if the new laws could be gamed with malicious compliance- could you overwhelm whatever enforcement agency is trying to do these porn lockdowns by submitting every one of the 75 billion different random places and sites that have porn? Every random image host, everything? Every single google image search result? I can’t imagine VA trying to send out and follow up on a billion cease and desist orders is at all practical, especially with domains constantly changing. Trying to lock down a few big popular money makers like pornhub, sure, but good luck blocking the whole world.