The Story w/ Martha MacCallum - Tuesday, January 3
House Speaker, Kevin McCarthy, Idaho murders
Conservatives celebrated on Tuesday the successful enactment of a new law in Louisiana that requires ID and age verification within the state to access online porn.
The bill was originally spearheaded by Louisiana State Rep. Laurie Schlegel, R., earlier in 2022 and finally went into effect on Sunday. The new law states that websites containing 33.3% or more of pornographic material will now be held liable for ensuring their viewers are 18 or older or risk legal ramifications.
"Online pornography is extreme and graphic and only one click away from our children. This is not your daddy’s Playboy. And if pornography companies refuse to be responsible, then we must hold them accountable. This law is a first step," Schlegel tweeted on Dec. 29.
In a statement to Fox News Digital, Schlegel said the law now treats the internet the same as brick and mortar businesses that provide pornographic material.
"We require brick and mortar businesses to check ID before providing anyone access to this type of material but somehow we’ve given the internet a free pass. How does this make sense? And because it's free and easily accessible without any need to show verify your age, hardcore pornography is just a click away from our children," Schlegel said. "Research has shown that kids as young as six are now seeing pornography and that 1 in 10 visitors of porn sites are now under 10 years old. This is not acceptable. One researcher even said that children’s unlimited access to extreme and graphic pornography is the ‘largest unregulated social experiment in history’ and our society is paying the price."
She continued, "It’s pretty simple. The standard for all business should be the same when it comes to explicit material. We must protect our children from the dangers of pornography online the same way that we do in the physical world. Thankfully, the technology today has changed the game in this area and allows us to not only protect children but also protect the privacy of those adults who want to view this material. Act 440 also protects privacy ‘A commercial entity that is found to have knowingly retained identifying information of the individual after access has been granted to the individual shall be liable to the individual for damages resulting from retaining the identifying information, including court costs and reasonable attorney fees as ordered by the court.’"
An illustration of a hacker program is seen open on a MacBook Air (Photo by Silas Stein/picture alliance via Getty Images)
Several other Twitter users celebrated the news as a step in the right direction of managing online pornography.
"Proof of age to obtain hardcore porn should not be a controversial position," columnist David Marcus tweeted.
Journalist Ryan James Girdusky wrote, "What a big win from Louisiana."
Catholic priest Fr. Matthew Schneider agreed, "Based. This is a great idea. More places should pass laws like this. (This is not banning pornography but taking it back to what it was in the 90s when you needed to go to a special store or the video rental place's back room, both of which banned minors & would check ID.)"
Louisiana State Rep. Laurie Schlegel successfully passed a bill to require age verification on porn sites in her state. (iStock)
Daily Signal senior reporter Mary Margaret Olohan tweeted, "Bravo. Let's take more steps to protect our children's innocence."
"The interesting thing about what is happening in Louisiana with online pornography is that the porn companie$ are proving that they have the capability to do this cheaply -- and are refusing to do this in other states," Claremont Institute Lincoln Fellow Terry Schilling wrote.
Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah., proposed a similar bill to Congress in December called the Shielding Children's Retinas from Egregious Exposure on the Net (SCREEN) Act. The bill would direct the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to require all pornographic websites to adopt age verification technology.
Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah., introduced a bill to Congress to require age verification of pornographic websites. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
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"Every day, we're learning more about the negative psychological effects pornography has on minors. Given the alarming rate of teenage exposure to pornography, I believe the government must act quickly to enact protections that have a real chance of surviving First Amendment scrutiny. We require age verification at brick-and-mortar shops. Why shouldn't we require it online?" Lee said.
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