Across most of the U.S., if you want to watch porn online, you have to hand over a government ID or submit to a biometric scan to determine you\u2019re over 18 years of age. But people in Wisconsin can keep freely accessing porn sites\u2014and any other website that hosts more than one third adult content\u2014after Governor Tony Evers vetoed the state\u2019s age verification bill on Friday.A copycat of the dozens of bills that have passed in the U.S. since 2022, Wisconsin\u2019s Assembly Bill 105 would have forced sites with more than one third \u201cmaterial harmful to minors,\u201d defined as \u201cdepictions of actual or simulated sexual acts or body parts including pubic areas, genitals, buttocks, and female nipples,\u201d to verify visitors\u2019 ages by \u201cusing any commercially reasonable method that uses public or private transactional data gathered about the individual.\u201d This means uploading an ID, showing their face for a biometric scan, uploading their credit card information, or combinations of these.\u201cI am vetoing this bill in its entirety because I object to this bill’s intrusion into the personal privacy of Wisconsin residents,\u201d Evers wrote in a letter to the members of the assembly, dated April 3. \u201cWhile I agree that we should protect children from harmful material, this bill imposes an intrusive burden on adults who are trying to access constitutionally protected materials.\u201dEvers wrote that the bill doesn\u2019t prevent platforms from giving collected personal data to third parties, such as the government or data brokers. \u201cThis is a violation of personal privacy,\u201d he wrote.\u201cAdditionally, I am concerned about data security and the potential for misuse of personally identifiable information. Identifiable information could be intercepted by or transmitted to a third party and used as the basis for blackmail or identity theft. Further, although the bill includes penalties for a business entity who violates the prohibition on retention of personal information, those penalties cannot undo the harm that may occur to an individual who is the victim of actions like blackmail or identity theft as a result of a bad actor obtaining their identity.\u201d\u00a0Last year, after the UK\u2019s Online Safety Act started requiring websites and platforms to verify users\u2019 ages, Discord users\u2019 age verification data\u2014including selfies and identity documents\u2014was exposed in a security breach. The hack was just one instance where users\u2019 personal data has been required by a platform and then exposed to the whole internet: also last year, similar data was exposed by the Tea app, which made users provide selfies and identity documents to prove they\u2019re women.An earlier version of the bill attempted to ban Wisconsinites from accessing sites using virtual private networks (VPNs); lawmakers are increasingly pushing to restrict VPNs, but so far have faced pushback from citizens and civil liberties groups. Wisconsin state Sen. Van Wanggaard moved to delete that provision in the legislation, and the state assembly agreed to remove the VPN ban in February.\u00a0The adult advocacy group Free Speech Coalition wrote following the veto that Director of Public Policy Mike Stabile flew to Madison \u201cto meet with legislators to discuss the legal and technological issues with the bill, including a ban on VPN traffic, and to advocate for device-based verification solutions.\u201d\u00a0\u201cPut simply, AB-105 raises significant concerns around privacy, surveillance, and the First Amendment,\u201d the ACLU of Wisconsin wrote in testimony submitted in March. \u201cWhile the ACLU of Wisconsin is sympathetic to the overarching goal of this legislation, we do not believe an appropriate trade-off is compromising the civil liberties of all Wisconsinites.\u201d\u00a0Wisconsin is now one of only a handful of states left that allows access to porn without requiring users jump through invasive age verification hoops. \u201cWe can and should work to prevent minors from accessing adult content, but there are better solutions than the one offered by this bill,\u201d Evers wrote in his veto letter. \u201cFor example, we can work with tech companies to implement device-based age verification that takes place on a user’s phone or computer, which can be a more secure and effective method. Other states have been moving toward device-based solutions, and major tech companies are adopting these options as well.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"