Every day adult content is available for free on the web for view by anyone. Children under the age of 18 also have access to these materials. There are federal laws on the books that are supposed to prohibit the distribution of pornography to minors (1), but currently the vast majority of adult websites have no standard for checking peoples age when they visit their domain.

The same laws that prevent children from getting alcohol or cigarettes at liquor or convenient stores, night clubs, are also the same laws that prevent a child from walking into a casino. Just like how a kid isn't allowed to walk into a XXX store, they shouldn't be allowed to view an XXX website.

If your lucky, you might get a website asking you “Are you over 18?” with a yes or no question before entering the site. This is about as legal as a bartender or a convenient store owner “are you 18?” to a potential minor, and just taking a yes or no for an answer. It is not a legal form of age verification.

Where gambling is legal, online casino’s require I.D. verification before engaging in online gambling- just as they would require verification for gambling in real life.

The laws of the land do not change from the real world to the internet. Pornographic websites should be required per federal law to insure the people viewing their material are of age. If they refuse to do this, they should be treated like any establishment (Club, concert, casino, liquor store) that involve age-restricted activities, but refuses to card it’s patrons, and be shut down.

This goes for any website that distributes pornographic material, or adult material, where age verification is required, including mixed websites that host age-restricted content (like reddit, youtube, tumblr), and foreign websites based outside the US as well. If the domain is distributing material that is classified as adult, the option is to either get rid of it, or install a proper I.D. verification system in order to verify the users age with whatever state or jurisdiction it's operating out of.

There have been a few states which have made age verification a “new law” for porn sites. These laws are superfluous. They’re extra. We already have laws on the books that require age verification for pornographic materials, and they exist across the board for all the states. While a nice addition, these states don’t need those laws. We just need to push the US government to get off their ass and do the job that the law binds them to do.

The goal is for us to get 10,000 signatures. After that we can it to the DOJ and the CEOS and motion them to do their job with the statement: 

"All those who have signed this petition call upon CEOS (Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section) at the United States Justice Department to enforce the laws in the digital realm and require Pornography websites to begin requiring I.D. from users prior to the distribution of adult material, to ensure they are not distributing pornography to minors. US websites that refuse to comply should be investigated for the crime of distributing pornography to minors, and prosecuted under the law if they are found guilty."

 

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 Update:

Recently the state of Louisiana passed a law known as act 440, and Texas passed H.B. 1181, both of which which requires adult websites to screen their visitors age using government identification. Both of these states have identified pornography as a public health crisis and rightfully finds that pornographic material is “harmful to minors."

However, both of these laws are unnecessary. Laws already exist on the books that require these websites to verify for age, the government simply hasn’t been enforcing these laws yet.

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1   According to justice.gov: “Federal law strictly prohibits the distribution of obscene matter to minors. Any transfer or attempt to transfer such material to a minor… including over the internet, is punishable by federal law…. It is illegal for an individual to knowingly use interactive computer services to display obscenity in a manner that makes it available to a minor of less than 18 years of age (see 47 U.S.C. S 223(d) -Communications Decency Act of 1996, as amended by the PROTECT act of 2003). It is also illegal to knowingly make a commercial communication via the Internet that includes obscenity and is available to any minor less than 17 years of age (See 47. U.S.C. S 231 – Child Online Protection Act of 1998… Harmful materials for minors include any communication consisting of nudity, sex or excretion that (I) appeals to the prurient interest of minors (ii) is patently offensive to prevailing standards in the adult community with respect to what is suitable for minors, (iii) and lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors. In addition to facing imprisonment and fines, convicted offenders of federal obscenity laws involving minors may also be required to register as sex offenders. ”

 

Laws on Child Pornography:
https://www.justice.gov/criminal-ceos/citizens-guide-us-federal-law-child-pornography

Laws of Obscenity:
https://www.justice.gov/criminal/criminal-ceos/obscenity
https://www.justice.gov/criminal-ceos/citizens-guide-us-federal-law-obscenity

Pornhub caught hosting rape and child porn:
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/pornhub-has-been-caught-hosting-rape-and-child-pornography-dont-fall-for-its-coronavirus-publicity-stunt

The children selling explicit videos on OnlyFans
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-57255983

Looking to watch porn in Louisiana? Expect to hand over your ID
https://www.npr.org/2023/01/05/1146933317/louisiana-new-porn-law-government-id-restriction-privacy