Pornhub, the giant of the sector, has therefore decided to respond radically by completely blocking access to its site for Florida users, according to the media Presse-Citron.
A risk to privacy
Defenders of these measures argue the need to protect minors from exposure to explicit content. But that doesn’t stop the criticism from flying in. For many, these laws not only protect young people: they also open the door to increased surveillance and put privacy at risk. The Free Speech Coalition, representative of the adult content industry, also denounces disguised censorship. “Despite the claims of its supporters, HB3 is not the same as showing an ID in a store to buy alcohol. It is invasive and carries a significant privacy risk. This law and others like it have become state censorship, creating a massive chilling effect for those who speak out or are interested in issues of sex or sexuality.“, underlines the organization via a press release.
“The priority is to allow citizens to have control over their private data”
“These people haven’t stopped looking for porn. They’ve just migrated to darker corners of the internet that don’t ask users to verify their age, that don’t follow the law, that don’t take security users seriously and who often don’t even moderate content. In practice, these laws have only made the internet more dangerous.”adds Aylo, the parent company of the adult site. “We do not want minors accessing our site and believe that preventing this is a good thing. But putting everyone’s privacy at risk won’t achieve that.”
Faced with these restrictions, Internet users are getting organized. Searches related to VPNs (Virtual Private Network), these tools allowing you to hide your location, are experiencing a rebound in Florida.
