A Utah Porn Filtering Bill Is Back, And It’s Very Stupid

Policy

from the living-in-deja-vu dept

A pair of conservative Republican lawmakers in the Utah state legislature have introduced legislation that would require porn filtering on all mobile devices sold within the state. 

Technically, the bill would require retailers and manufacturers to enable parental controls on phones and tablets sold in the Beehive State in a bid to protect minors from adult content. 

One of my very first posts in Techdirt covered this topic. Though a similar proposal in Alabama was introduced, which prompted the column at the time, I referred to the dynamic duo of Utah Sen. Todd Weiler and Rep. Susan Pulsipher. Both are Republicans, anti-porn conservatives, members of the LDS Church, and think that child protection comes in the form of censorship. 

Now the two are back with a redux of the porn filtering legislation but with amazing new special features. For starters, the current form of the bill — Senate Bill (SB) 104 — would essentially accelerate the implementation of a filtering law adopted in 2021 proposed by Rep. Pulsipher (and covered by Techdirt at the time), though Sen. Weiler has been pushing this bill going back nearly a decade.

SB 104 features criminal penalties for companies and individuals selling devices to local Utah consumers without parental controls. The criminal penalty is either a misdemeanor or a felony:

“[An] individual, other than the parent or legal guardian of the minor in possession of a device, who disables the filter on a device in possession of a minor commits a class A misdemeanor…”

“For each offense, the violator is subject to fines up to $5,000. […] Any person who has a prior conviction under this section is guilty of a felony of the third degree and shall, for each separate offense, be fined up to $50,000 and maybe imprisoned for up to one year.”

Other penalties include fines for manufacturers, and parents are granted a civil right of action. 

Barring the interstate commerce restrictions on this, a constitutional cluster fuck is unfolding, given that these types of bills could easily face First Amendment rights violations from adult consumers and parents alike. Do we see these concerns stopping far-right Christian nationalistic lawmakers like these two? No, we certainly do not. Pulsipher and Weiler claim that this is a measure to protect minors who may happen to have mobile phones or tablets.

Adults who want to disable the parental controls can do so with a code provided by a retailer or manufacturer. Is it simple enough? It’s not—the mere logistics and supply chain changes needed for a market of roughly 3.34 million people. A smaller consumer market compared to, say, the states of  Texas or California. No manufacturer or retailer in their right mind would waste their time enabling parental controls. Okay, maybe that is a “perfect world” assessment. But, requiring retailers and manufacturers to enable a feature for all ages under the faulty assumption that every single child in Utah is watching hardcore pornography is backward thinking. Let’s be real: by no means is porn for minors. Claiming that porn companies make content for minors is simply disconnected from reality.

Most cases when minors view porn are primarily instances of “stumble upon” cases meaning that most minors navigate to age-restricted content by accident. This is unfortunate. Luckily, optional parental controls are pre-installed on mobile devices, and more invasive tools can be downloaded for free. Parents already have the tools they need without the government forcing it to be mandatory and enabled from the beginning.

The constitutional implications and the complexity of enforcing such measures suggest that this legislation may face significant challenges and opposition from various corners. Utah’s First Amendment track record is shit. A porn filtering mandate, coupled with the censorial age verification statutes, suggests it’s going to rack up some more courtroom losses.

Michael McGrady covers the legal and tech side of the online porn business, among other topics. He is the politics and legal contributing editor for AVN.com.

Filed Under: 1st amendment, age verification, mobile devices, porn filters, susan pulsipher, todd weiler, utah