Ohio advances age verification bill to close loophole used by porn sites

Age verification for access to online pornography is one step closer to enforceable law in Ohio, where House Bill 84 has been passed by the State House of Representatives.

If signed into law, the Innocence Act would require a geolocation check by any online entity disseminating material judged “obscene or harmful to juveniles,” and apply age verification for users from Ohio. The entities would have to submit affidavits to the Attorney General of their compliance with the age verification mandate. The State AG would have sole enforcement authority over the age check rules.

Civil penalties for noncompliance could reach $100,000 per day.

Age verification should be carried out through a “commercial age verification system that uses photo identification, visual age verification software, or public or private transactional data to verify the person’s age,” the Bill says. The reference to “visual age verification software” in contrast to photo identification seems to refer to biometric facial age estimation.

Last year Ohio passed budget bill HB 96 with age assurance requirements for porn sites, which made little effort to comply. The geolocation requirement is an attempt to close a loophole the sites had used by claiming they could not identify what users are in Ohio, and who therefore the requirement applied to.

“Despite action taken in the budget, pornographic websites are continuing to distribute a sea of obscene material to minors without proper age verification,” said HB 84 Co-sponsor Josh Williams in an announcement the successful State House vote.

HB 84 has advanced to the Senate Judiciary Committee ahead of a vote in the State’s upper chamber.

Article Topics

age verification  |  legislation  |  Ohio  |  United States