A new federal bill could force you to hand over your ID or a scan of your face just to watch a video online.

Senator Mike Lee has reintroduced the SCREEN Act, a bill that would require nearly every website with user-generated content — not just adult sites — to verify visitors' ages before they can view anything. Unlike the state laws already in place that target explicit adult content specifically, this bill's definition is so broad it could reach mainstream platforms like Netflix and any site where people post their own videos, photos, or comments.

To comply, sites would likely turn to third-party verification services, asking users to upload a government ID or submit to biometric scans like facial recognition. The bill also takes direct aim at VPNs, requiring verification based on a user's actual location instead of letting people protect their privacy online. Every one of those IDs and face scans would sit in a database somewhere, waiting for the next data breach.

This isn't a narrow child-safety measure. It's a plan that would require millions of adults to prove who they are, and where they are, just to use the internet normally. Once that kind of identity infrastructure exists, it can be expanded far beyond its original purpose.

Protecting kids online matters. But trading everyone's privacy and personal data for it is not the answer, especially when the bill sweeps in so much more than the explicit content it claims to target.

Sign the petition to stop the SCREEN Act before mandatory ID checks become the price of using the internet.

IAEA Imagebank, CC BY 2.0