AVS in the USA?

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As xbiz.com reported on 17 November, a bill that demands the verification of a user by means of an age verification system for all pornographic online offers, was introduced in Congress by the Republican Representative Bart Stupak. Every operator who violates this has to expect 10 years in jail, fines and the confiscation of assets and properties.

However, this bill does not only affect operators of adult offers, but also payment providers. They would have to make sure, that pornography will only be available to users who verified as adults before.

Furthermore, the project named online age verification and child protection act, would pass the responsibility for pornographic offers to the American cartel authority which will have to make sure, that all offers with pornographic contents are equipped with an appropriate age verification system, according to 18 U.S.C. § 2257.

At the same time, a certificate for approved and authorized offers and a blacklist for webmasters would be introduced. All offers that do not comply with the required age verification shall appear on this blacklist.

Diane Duke, managing director of the Association for the Freedom of Expression said that Stupak and other misdirected representatives would destroy the future of all children under the pretext of the Child and Youth Protection. She added that this law was unacceptable, against the law and beyond the target. Her association will continue working on the observation of restrictive and ridiculous legislations like this with her friends and supporters in the federal capital.

The lawyer Colin Hardacre of the Kaufman Law Group based in Los Angeles, who is active in the erotic industry, said that there was still no secure method to verify the age of the users on the internet and that it therefore was not constitutional to accuse someone of criminal offence, if he neglected to carry out an age check.

Joan Irvine, president of the ASACP, a child protection agency, which fights against child pornography on the internet and supports parents in keeping their children away from unsuitable online contents, agrees with Colin Hardacre. She said that age verification systems are no wonder weapons. This follows from the report of a workgroup for security on the internet. This report explains that a mandatory age verification would even make children on the internet vulnerable, if solely relied on this. The community of all people would be necessary in order to protect children from harmful contents. Everybody would have to contribute in that. She said, the focal points are an appropriate education and according tools parents should be provided with in order to protect their children.

The bill that was introduced at the beginning of November was meanwhile passed on to the Financial Services Committee and the Energy and Economy Committee and is now checked.

Source: xbiz.com