Louisiana gets sued over its age verification law for porn sites

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - The Free Speech Coalition is just one of many taking aim at a Louisiana law that went into effect last year.

It requires age verification for certain websites that consists of at least 30% adult content, like porn. The law’s intent is to keep minors off these sights, as the material continues to intensify on an annual basis.

“We’re not opposed at all to efforts to limit minors from accessing adult material, it’s called adult material for a reason. But the problem we have with these laws are they’re not only unconstitutional but they’re ineffective and dangerous,” said Director of Public Affairs for the group, Mike Stabile.

Stabile says the law’s vagueness makes it difficult for websites to abide by the standard to which the law holds them. Adding the 30% threshold these sites are held to is not specific enough on the type of content it’s referring to.

“We don’t know how that’s calculated. Is it the number of posts, the number of pages, the volume of data...I think what you see in this law and the other copycat laws you see in other states is that they’re the product of magical thinking,” Stabile added.

Stabile says instead of trying to legislate how sites should verify age and requiring citizens to subject themselves to potentially having their personal information and web browsing history exposed, the state should take the approach of a device-level filter.

“Fewer than 20% of parents include any type of filter on their kids’ devices. And what the supreme court has said in case after case is that so long as those filters exist, as long as a less restrictive method that doesn’t endanger people’s privacy that doesn’t limit their access to first amendment protected speech exists, these government filters and mandates are unconstitutional,” Stabile explained.

The lawmaker behind this, state Rep. Laurie Schlegel defended her bill in messages to us Tuesday by saying the law was thoroughly crafted and does not infringe on anyone’s rights. She also managed to pass another law this year allowing the Attorney General to fine adult sites up to $5000 for every day they fail to comply with state law.

“This is a law that is going to cost Louisiana taxpayers half a million dollars or more to defend. And at the end of the day, the Supreme Court has ruled on this many times. The government does not have a right to unreasonably limit access to otherwise legally protected first amendment speech,” Stabile continued.

The Attorney General’s office says their office is reviewing the filing and withheld any further comment.

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