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“Protecting Our Kids: GOP Lawmaker Introduces Bill for Age Verification of Porn Sites

In efforts to protect children from illegal and sexually explicit material, Republicans in the United States House of Representatives have proposed legislation that would require internet pornography websites to use age verification technology.

The Stop Taxing the Use of Technologies Act, otherwise known as the STUTA Act, would make porn websites use age verification technology to identify customers, preventing minors under the age of 18 from being able to access the websites.

The bill was introduced by Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-SC) and co-sponsored by Rep. Robert Pittenger (R-NC). According to Rep. Duncan, the STUTA Act will help “protect our children from the dangers of illegal and inappropriate online pornography.”

The STUTA Act would require internet porn websites to obtain age verification of every person attempting to access the website. It would also prohibit any payment processor or gateway provider from processing a payment for any customer who hasn’t been verified.

The STUTA Act is one of the few pieces of legislation to recognize the importance of protecting minors from illegal and inappropriate material online. Logging onto an adult website would require internet users to submit their personal identifying information, such as their full name, phone number and date of birth. This information would then be cross-referenced against trusted databases and if the person fails to match the criteria, then access to the website would be denied.

The STUTA Act has received overwhelming support and the bill is currently under review by the House Energy and Commerce Committee. The bill could be voted on in the House in the near future and if the bill is passed, the legislation would become enforceable.

If the STUTA Act were to become law, it could potentially help to protect minors from accessing websites featuring illegal and explicit material. It would mean that internet pornography websites would be required to ensure that their customers are of an appropriate age before being able to access the content. The bill could also serve as a deterrent to those who attempt to access such websites as the stringent age verification practices could put potential customers off from accessing these sites in the first place.