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Legislation requiring porn websites to use new technology to verify the age of visitors is advancing in the House.
Rep. Chase Tramont, a Port Orange Republican, said new methods allow websites to do more than ask a user if they are old enough. He said it’s imperative to protect children from harmful content online.
“If by some chance that our country were to fall someday and collapse, I think we can trace it right back to the invention and creation of the internet,” Tramont said, “because while it has brought in substantially good and positive benefits, it has also been a Trojan horse to bring in a number of things that can lead to our eventual downfall.”
The House Regulatory Reform and Economic Development Subcommittee advanced the bill (HB 3) on a unanimous 10-0 vote.
The matter didn’t prove as controversial as similar legislation also passed in the committee that would more broadly barred minors under age 16 from social media. Rep. Toby Overdorf, a Palm City Republican, stressed that the bill would focus on material of a sexual nature.
John Labriola from the Christian Family Coalition spoke in favor of the bill, pointing to surveys of minors showing 71% of teenagers ages 13 to 17 have accessed pornography on the internet. The same surveys showed 90% of minors first accessed porn between ages 11 and 12.
Committee members pressed the bill sponsors on how a statute could ultimately be enforced — and whether the language could be abused.
Rep. Ashley Gantt, a Miami Democrat, said she wants to make sure the legislation doesn’t lead to frivolous lawsuits against businesses. The bill allows for lawsuits against companies that fail to use proper age verification with inappropriate material, but she doesn’t want that category so broad it puts some companies at risk unintentionally.
“I think there is a possibility of particular communities or companies or individuals being targeted,” she said.
The legislation requires any company publishing material deemed “harmful to minors” to employ reasonable age verification methods already used by government agencies and businesses.
“It’s important for us to understand. age verification is done all the time, every single day, whether it be alcohol sales, tobacco use, online gaming, etc.,” Tramont said.
2 comments
PeterH
January 11, 2024 at 1:54 pm
More gubberment interference in the responsibilities of Florida’s parents!
Dont Say FLA
January 12, 2024 at 6:28 pm
Rhonda’s gonna need to see your phone and your kid’s phone to make sure you haven’t been letting your kid do the devil porns.
Also Rhonda is gonna require adults to ID yourself to all the porn sites, claiming it’s for the children when the sad fact is it’s an attempt to shame adults into avoiding porn like Rhonda thinks Jesus wants them to avoid.
And it won’t be long until anything and everything Rhonda doesn’t think Jesus would like will be deemed as “porn” which you must be protected from.
But it’s not a porn ban, of course… Same as Rhonda’s says it’s “not a book ban” when he bans books.
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