By Jerod MacDonald-Evoy | AZ Mirror
Gov. Katie Hobbs signed legislation that will require Arizonans to prove they are at least 18 years old before accessing online pornography by either submitting a government-issued ID or using an age-verification system that relies on “transactional data.”
The bill, run by freshman Republican lawmaker Nick Kupper, R-Surprise, is similar to legislation Republicans have pushed in previous years that failed to gain support due to constitutional concerns.
Kupper’s House Bill 2112 is similar to efforts to crack down on pornography access in other states, such as Louisiana and Texas, and he cited Texas’ law as the inspiration for his legislation.
Lobbyists representing the adult entertainment industry and the American Civil Liberties Union have voiced concerns that the bill’s language could loop in non-pornographic material and would do little to prevent children from seeing pornographic content.
They added that it could push users to “black market” sites outside of the United States where child sex abuse material or other malicious material may reside.
The industry has been advocating for device-level solutions that are backed by organizations such as the International Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which has also voiced concerns with laws like the one Kupper has proposed.
