As of September 26 Age verification now required in Arizona for anyone trying to access adult content. Under Bill HB 2112any site with at least 33% of its content intended for adults must verify the age of users using either a government-issued ID or another “commercially reasonable method.”
While the logic behind this seems reasonable – protecting children from accessing adult or other harmful content – this is a huge privacy compromisebecause sharing your personal data (biometrics, credit card or ID) with third parties puts you at risk identity theftfraud, blackmail, etc.
As a result best VPNs There has been a huge increase in registrations, with users turning to them to protect their digital privacy and remain anonymous on an internet that is becoming increasingly geographically restricted in the region.
If you're in Arizona and looking for a VPN, now might be the best time to get one. Black Friday sales are here and some of them are… most private VPNs available at huge discounts.
Age verification elsewhere in the US
More than 20 US states have now implemented (or are in the process of implementing) some form of mandatory age verification requirements, causing quite a stir among privacy-conscious people.
Ohio mandatory age verification was launched on September 30, and now citizens must verify their age with either a photo ID or employment or education documents if they want to access content that is “obscene or harmful to minors.” Not only that, online platforms must verify the age of their users every two years.
Additionally, the platforms are designed to create and use a geofencing system, meaning that as long as your online location appears to be in Ohio, you will have to go through an age verification process.
But experts warn it sets a worrying precedent for increased government control over the open Internet. Additionally, being vague about what constitutes “harmful” content can ultimately lead to blocking of educational resources.
There are also a lot of assumptions around Wisconsin new age verification accountwhich reportedly seeks to require all ISPs that distribute “material harmful to minors” online to block users who try to access their content using virtual private network (VPN).
However, Wisconsin legislators' view of VPNs as a loophole that needs to be closed may be extremely difficult, if not nearly impossible, to implement since there is no practical way for websites displaying adult content to filter VPN traffic originating specifically from Wisconsin users.
most secure VPNs the industry is spoofing your location, meaning the ISP only sees the location you select from the server and not the location you are actually connected from.
So the bigger risk here is whether lawmakers will propose blocking all VPN traffic or shift the responsibility for blocking access to VPN companies, which would become an even bigger privacy issue by requiring VPN companies to monitor the online activity of their users.
