Laws requiring porn websites to verify user ages and block people under age 18 have been spreading like a contagion around the United States. Proponents say they're necessary to curb minors' access to pornography, even if it means sacrificing adults' privacy. Detractors argue that not only do these laws infringe on protected speech, they won't even work at accomplishing their stated goal of stopping young people from viewing adult content. They may even make matters worse, by driving adults and minors alike to websites working outside of U.S. standards and regulations.
A new working paper suggests the detractors are right.
The paper details research looking at how age-verification laws impact "digital behavior across four key dimensions: searches for the largest compliant website, the largest non-compliant website, VPN services, and adult content generally."
