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       lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial
       
       
       ARTICLE VIEW: 
       
       Adult entertainment industry asks Supreme Court to block Texas
       age-verification requirements for porn sites
       
       By John Fritze, CNN
       
       Updated: 
       
       5:06 PM EDT, Tue April 16, 2024
       
       Source: CNN
       
       A trade group representing the adult entertainment industry on Tuesday
       to temporarily block a Texas age-verification law that it says violates
       the First Amendment by making it more difficult to access porn sites on
       the internet.
       
       Texas’ law requires any website that publishes a substantial amount
       of content that is “harmful to minors” to verify the age of users.
       But the challengers say the law also forces adults to identify
       themselves before accessing pornography, which the group’s lawyers
       say violates access to free speech online.
       
       The group filed a formal appeal to the Supreme Court last week, and, on
       Tuesday, it asked the court to block the law while that appeal is
       considered – or at least order an expedited review.
       
       The emergency request follows a 2-1 decision last month from the 5th US
       Circuit Court of Appeals that cited Texas’ “legitimate interest in
       preventing minors’ access to pornography” and allowed the law to
       take effect.
       
       “Americans hold a wide range of views about sexual content online,”
       the group, which is represented in part by the American Civil Liberties
       Union, wrote in their formal appeal. “Some view it as offensive or
       indecent; for others, it is artistic, informative, or even essential to
       important parts of life.”
       
       The Supreme Court in 1997 unanimously invalidated provisions of a
       federal law intended to protect minors from indecent material online
       because it also imposed First Amendment burdens on adults. But in
       reviewing the Texas law, the 5th Circuit relied instead on a 1968
       precedent in which the Supreme Court let stand a New York law barring
       the distribution of obscene material to minors.
       
       “The record is replete with examples of the sort of damage that
       access to pornography does to children,” the appeals court wrote.
       “Because it is never obvious whether an internet user is an adult or
       a child, any attempt to identify the user will implicate adults in some
       way.”
       
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