Sen. Mike Lee sponsors bill to keep children from viewing online pornography
Sen. Mike Lee has reintroduced a bill that would try to keep children from seeing online pornography.
The bill, the Shielding Children’s Retinas from Egregious Exposure on the Net, or SCREEN, Act, would require pornography websites to use age verification technology to verify that users are over the age of 18.
The bill would allow pornography websites to choose what verification measures they use, but requires transparency of the measures implemented and says the verification must include the person’s IP address. It also lists privacy requirements for the verification process.
A companion bill was sponsored by Rep. Mary Miller, R-Ill., in the House.
“It is time for our laws to catch up with technology,” said Lee, R-Utah, in a press release about the bill.
“The SCREEN Act addresses the urgent need to protect minors from exposure to online pornography and stop those who profit from stealing the innocence of America’s youth,” he said.
Several states have passed age verification laws for pornography websites, including Utah, which passed a bill earlier this year. The porn industry’s trade association, the “Free Speech Coalition,” sued the state after the bill was signed into law. The porn website Pornhub subsequently blocked traffic from Utah.
The lawsuit was later dismissed.
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The bill is trying to find a mechanism to protect children that could pass muster in the Supreme Court, the press release says. It points out that “prior legislative measures have been challenged and overturned by the Supreme Court on the grounds of not meeting the least-restrictive-means test. Nonetheless, the Court acknowledged the government’s compelling interest to protect children.”
But, the release says, since past Supreme Court decisions, it has become apparent “traditional methods like blocking and filtering software have fallen short. ... The repercussions on minors are profound, contributing to a spectrum of psychological issues, unhealthy sexual behaviors, and broader societal harms.”
In background information provided by Lee, he notes nearly 80% of teens ages 12 to 17 have been exposed to pornography on the internet, and that 17 states have declared porn a public health hazard.
Supporters of the legislation include the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, Culture Reframed, National Decency Coalition and Enough Is Enough.
