The (Fort Wayne) Journal Gazette
Pornography isn’t for kids. But since the early days of the internet, easy access to the digital world has stirred concern that children will stumble upon sexually explicit images they are too young to understand, or that violent depictions of sex will influence their interpretation of what healthy sexual relationships look like.
The Indiana Senate Judiciary Committee last week unanimously passed Senate Bill 17: legislation that would limit children’s access to online adult content. Authored by Sen. Mike Bohacek, R-Michiana Shores, the bill proposes adult-oriented websites hosting content “harmful to minors” first must verify a user’s identity before allowing access.
But can the bill pass constitutional muster? Last year, federal judges in Arkansas, Texas and Montana temporarily blocked similar laws from taking effect on privacy and free-speech grounds.
The bill, co-authored by Fort Wayne Republican Sen. Liz Brown, also would make it easier for parents or caregivers to sue adult- oriented websites that violate the verification requirement. Those not verifying ages would commit a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by as much as one year in jail and a $5,000 fine.
Senate Bill 17 also prohibits those conducting age verification from retaining any personal, identifying information, and permits an individual to sue the age-verification operator for holding such data. Still, the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana told lawmakers the bill would subject Hoosiers to potential surveillance and put their personal information at risk.
“(A state) can limit a minor’s access to adult material. However, you can’t do that in a way that impermissibly burdens an adult’s access to the same material,” said Chris Daley, the ACLU’s executive director.
In August, Pornhub — the largest online platform sharing sex videos — sued Texas to keep the age-verification requirement from taking effect. A federal district judge sided with porn-industry plaintiffs, claiming the law to protect children from accessing adult content likely violated the First Amendment.
But a high percentage of children, 59%, is viewing online pornography once a week or more, according to a recent poll.
Benenson Strategy Group, on behalf of Common Sense Media, surveyed 1,356 U.S. teens between the ages of 13 and 17 between Sept. 12 and Sept. 21, 2022. It found nearly 3 in 4 teen respondents (73%) had been exposed to pornography, either accidentally or intentionally. The average age when those surveyed first consumed pornography was 12, but 15% said they had seen online pornography before they turned 10.
Results of the survey should cause every parent and caregiver to talk about pornography with their teens, the same way they have conversations about sex, social media, smoking, or drug and alcohol use.
Setting up filters on the technology children use is a good way to keep them from seeing sexually explicit videos, according to Common Sense Media. Phones, tablets, desktops, laptops and internet service providers offer parental controls to filter content deemed inappropriate for children.
Indiana lawmakers should have the authority to limit child access to adult material and products, but those limits cannot prevent adults from consuming them, as is their First Amendment right, or force adults to risk sharing their personal information to gain access.
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