Should Earthlings Need an ID to buy liquor- But Not to Watch Porn?
Alison Boden of the Free Speech Coalition explains why she thinks a recent Supreme Court Decision upholding age verification for online porn violates the rights of adults
In 2023, Texas passed a law requiring websites that contain more than 30% porn to verify visitors’ ages. A group representing the porn industry claimed that age verification was an unconstitutional restriction on freedom of expression, which is also a human right. On June 27th, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that the Texas law can stand. Shalzed meets Alison Boden, that group’s director, to find out why she thinks the government can’t require porn websites to verify that their users are adults.
I got to the lounge around 9PM, and it looked like things still hadn’t gotten going. But most of the plush high chairs around the bar were occupied, and a woman in fishnet stockings was making out with a woman wearing a cut-off T-shirt with plenty of holes, black tights, and high heels on a red couch in the back.
I took a seat at the bar next to a man with a mohawk haircut. He was wearing a leather jacket, had six heavy chains around his neck, and at least a dozen buttons from old political campaigns on his shirt. I was open for conversation, but he seemed busy with his phone and paid no attention to me. I asked the bartender for a menu, and after a while decided on a drink called ‘The Castro Comet’. It didn’t really matter how strong it was or what was in it- unlike humans, it takes just minutes for alcohol to pass through me.
When I had sipped about two thirds of my drink, Alison Boden came through the door. She was wearing an elegant green dress- not necessarily what you’d expect from a leader of the porn industry.
I got up and walked to her before anyone she might know tried to wave her over. “Excuse me young lady, I don’t think you’re old enough to be at this place,” I said.
She scrunched her nose. “Shalzed?” she asked.
“Surprised?” I asked back.
Alison crossed her arms. “Yes, I’m surprised. Because you’re always going on about human rights, that’s why.”
“And I believe that adults have the right to view porn if they like. The government shouldn’t be able to veto sexual exploration. It’s part of the human right to seek, receive, and impart information, and it’s protected by the U.S. constitution as well (page 5).”
Alison let her arms drop and smiled. “What an enlightened planet you must come from,” she said. “So I assume you have porn there, too?”
“Sure. Available to anyone who’s lived long enough to travel three and a half times around our star.”
“Three and a half?” she asked, laughing.
“My planet has a slow orbit, and our children mature quickly.” She looked at me quizzically, like she was deciding her next question about my planet, and I wanted to head that off. Not a good idea to reveal too much at a time. “What I can’t understand is why you think humans shouldn’t have to verify their age to look at porn on the internet,” I told her.
“That’s not what this is about,” she protested. “What’s going on is that right wing Christian Texas lawmakers want to use age verification as a pretext to shut down porn completely.”
“Really?” I asked. I gestured towards the big guy scanning ID’s at the lounge entrance. “Minors aren’t allowed in here, and this place is still in business. And brick and mortar stores have always been required to check ID’s before selling porn magazines. They’re still around (p. 23).”
I noticed the bartender watching us. Maybe he worried that I was harassing her. She noticed it too and gave him a little ‘it’s okay’ wave. “There’s a big difference,” she said, turning back to me. “You show your ID at the door and it’s done. But when you upload your ID to a website, then they might have your data forever. They could leak it thirty years from now if you decide to run for president. Your ex could subpoena it if a divorce goes to trial. That’s what I mean by they’re trying to put porn out of business- no one is willing to expose themselves to that.”
“The law just says you have to verify the user’s birthday. Then you delete it,” I said back.
“Who will trust that their data is actually deleted? Fraud websites have already gone up where they claim to be age verification services but are really just phishing for personal data to use for blackmail. And there’s always the possibility of a hack.”
I shook my head. “So just do nothing? Kids should have free access to whatever porn they like just so adults don’t have to face any risks?”
The man I had sat next to came over to join us. “Alison, so good to see you,” he said.
She hugged him lightly. “I was coming over, but I stopped to chat for a moment.”
He looked me over. “What’s that costume?” he asked.
“And where did you park your time machine?” I replied. “If you’ve been out knocking on doors for Goldwater or Mondale, bad news. They lost.”
Alison put a hand on his shoulder. “Just one more minute,” she said. Then she turned to me. “I support age verification that’s effective. Parents should install software to monitor what their kids are doing. And anyway, every kid in America knows how to get around this Texas law with a VPN.”
“And every kid in America knows how to get around blocking software,” I replied.
“The Texas law wouldn’t work, anyway,” she continued. “It only applies to websites that are more than 30% porn. How is anyone ever going to define that?”
I shrugged. “Well lots of websites seem to be 100% porn.” Isn’t porn all that her company, kink.com, makes?
“We don’t need any Bible thumpers here in SOHO,” the man told me. He held his jacket open wider, showing even more buttons. A bunch were for Bernie. “Why don’t you go back where you belong?” I got the feeling he had already had way too much to drink.
I could have told him that my home is on the other edge of the Milky Way, but I’ve already learned that it’s never a good idea to get humans too confused.
Alison rubbed a hand over the man’s stomach. Not only did he relax, but he even smiled. “Sites with less than 30% porn still have millions of videos,” she said as she turned back to me. “And how is a judge going to view every video on a website to decide which count as porn? And anyway, more than half of teens see porn accidently or via a search engine, and this law would do nothing about that.”
“So you’re saying this bar shouldn’t bother to have a bouncer because some teenagers might get fake ID’s?” I asked her.
“Is everyone so dense where you come from?” Alison replied. “What I’m opposed to is a law which achieves almost nothing while at the same time makes major problems for adults who simply want to access material that even you agree is their right.”
“Hey, you done with your drink?” the bartender called, gesturing towards my Castro Comet.
“You can clear it,” I said. He scowled as he took the glass. Maybe he took the fact that I hadn’t finished as a personal insult to his cocktail-making prowess. But the truth is that everything served in an Earth bar tastes about the same to me.
“Sorry you can’t stay to finish your drink,” the man said, grasping Alison’s shoulder and tugging her away.
“You’ll have to excuse me,” Alison said, taking the guy’s hand.
“He’s probably heading to Tenderloin looking for fun. That’s what all the Bible thumpers do,” the man said.
“I actually do plan to tour the Tenderloin neighborhood,” I told him. “To learn more about Earth’s problems. But I won’t consider it fun.”
The man pulled Alison towards the bar and paid me no more attention. “It all comes down to parents,” Alison called over her shoulder as she let the man lead her away.
The two of them went and sat down at a cocktail table on the other side of the bar. I decided to leave. On the way out I asked the bouncer how many kids he had already caught trying to sneak in tonight.
He laughed. “I don’t catch them,” he said. “When they see me here at the door inspecting ID’s real carefully with a UV light they just go away.”
“Sounds like you’re doing a good job,” I told him.
“And speaking of that, mister, I didn’t ID you because you seem like an adult but how can I really be sure? Next time be sure to have your license, too.”
“No problem,” I told him. I guess I got lucky, though, because obviously I don’t have an Earth driver’s license. And even if I had with me my own ID, it would be hard to explain that fifteen, the number of times I’ve ridden my planet around my star, means I’m well into middle age.
I headed out towards Tenderloin thinking about what the bartender said. Checking ID’s isn’t perfect, but it still probably keeps a lot of kids out of bars. There’s got to be some way to do that for online porn, too.
Questions:
1. Is deciding what material children can and can’t view the proper role of government? Should parents be responsible for determining what is appropriate for their kids on their own, or is keeping track of what kids do online too difficult and parents need the help of laws as well?
2. Some websites have found that less than 5% of visitors are willing to take the risk of phishing scams, data breaches, and exposure to blackmail and share their ID in order to gain access. If that’s the case, do age verification rules impose too many limitations on adults in the aim of protecting minors?
3. How will we define what content is inappropriate for minors and therefore subject to age verification? Could this Supreme Court decision allow a state to make information about birth control, abortion, or other topics related to sexuality unavailable to minors as well?