- An adult content bill in Wisconsin could force adult-only websites to block VPNs
- The bill has been passed in the Assembly, and it is now moving forward in the Senate
- It mirrors a proposal from Michigan, as VPNs are increasingly seen as an obstacle to effective mandatory age verification
Using a VPN to access adult-only websites could become illegal in Wisconsin if a proposed age verification law passes
First introduced in March, what is known as Wisconsin AB 105/SB 130 is quietly moving up the legislative process. The proposal has already passed debate in the Assembly and had its first public hearing in the Senate on October 8.
The bill seeks to impose an obligation on all service providers operating in Wisconsin “who knowingly and knowingly publish or distribute material harmful to minors on the Internet,” to prevent anyone from accessing their content when connected to a VPN.
As mandatory age verification is enforced in and out of the US, people have increasingly turned to the best VPN services in an attempt to bypass these controls and avoid sharing their most sensitive information with third-party services.
Although tensions are growing in the debate around VPN blocking for effective age verification among democracies.
In September, Michigan lawmakers introduced a new adult content law that would not only force ISPs to monitor and block VPN connections, but also ban the promotion or sale of circumvention tools to access banned material. A bill that Proton defined as “a danger to political discourse.”
In the UK, the Children’s Commissioner for England, Dame Rachel de Souza, has also deemed VPNs “a loophole that needs to be closed.”
Still, VPNs are a crucial tool in promoting a safe and free internet anywhere in the world. This is why campaigners at Fight for the Future have launched the Defend VPNs Day of Action initiative, precisely to call on lawmakers to take “principled leadership” on VPNs.
Wisconsin VPN Blocking – What We Know So Far
It’s not yet clear how lawmakers plan to implement this VPN blocking requirement, nor how sites that display adult-only content can effectively restrict VPN traffic coming from Wisconsin users.
According to how virtual private networks (VPNs) work, websites can actually only see users’ spoofed IP addresses and not their real locations. This means that even if adult websites were to detect VPN traffic, it may be virtually impossible to determine where the person is actually connected from.
This could mean that not only would people in Wisconsin have to share their biometrics, IDs and credit card information without the security of a VPN that encrypts their communications, but adult websites could also be forced to block all individuals accessing their services regardless of their location.
However, another option could be to shift the burden to the VPN companies. This outcome is what Proton fears most from this type of proposal.
Commenting on the Michigan law, US Public Policy Manager at Proton, Christine Bannan, told TechRadar: “We don’t want to be forced to track content, nor do we want our users to agree to have their information tracked. We don’t want to be a tool for blocking, and that’s the biggest risk.”
It also remains to be seen whether websites with “material harmful to minors” will also include social media providers, as the bill does not currently specify this.
Also according to the text, all sexually explicit content must be age-appropriate if it lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value for minors. However, we do not know who should judge and define what is prurient and what is not.
There are many open questions that lawmakers still need to address as the bill moves through the legislative process. TechRadar reached out to the politicians working on the bill, but we’re still awaiting a response at the time of publication.
