MADISON, Wis.—Lawmakers in the Wisconsin state legislature are slowly pushing an age verification bill that not only targets adult entertainment websites but also restricts the use of virtual private networks (VPNs). The most recent action on this legislation took place during a committee meeting in the state Senate on Oct. 8.
The bill proposal for restricting VPN usage derives from the companion bills AB 105 and SB 130. Both bills are purely partisan proposals with all Republican sponsors. Given that Republicans control both chambers of the state legislature, the likelihood of the bill passing in some form through the state Assembly and Senate is high.
There is no indication as to how the moderate Democratic Gov. Tony Evers would act on the legislation, including whether he would sign it into law. AB 105 and SB 130, taken as a single proposal, are the latest attempts to restrict and/or make illegal the use of commercially available virtual private networks to circumvent age-gating.
In neighboring Michigan, a class of far-right Republicans proposed a total ban on pornography that initially restricted the use of VPNs and other proxies.
GOP Rep. Josh Schriver, who led the introduction of House Bill (HB) 4938, the so-called “Anticorruption of Public Morals Act,” presented the bill as a “public decency and public safety solution” to what he views as harmful speech that is available on the internet. But after stakeholders engaged and expressed concern over VPNs, Schriver announced that he is holding HB 4938 to amend the language in the pornography ban, removing any mention of restricting VPNs and proxies.
It is also worth noting that the Age Verification Providers Association, a trade group, has often muddled its position on VPNs. According to AVN’s previous reporting, the association’s executive director, Iain Corby, said the association doesn’t oppose virtual private networks, but left it unclear what role they play in circumventing AV laws.
Additionally, there are efforts in the United Kingdom to require age verification for VPNs. Dame Rachel de Souza, the Children’s Commissioner of England, appeared on BBC’s Newsnight program in August, admitting that the age verification components of the sweeping Online Safety Act are pointless, given the widespread availability of VPNs on the market. As AVN and the Financial Times reported, search engine volumes for terms like VPN have spiked in the U.K.
“Of course, we need age verification on VPNs—it’s absolutely a loophole that needs closing, and that’s one of my major recommendations,” de Souza told the BBC during the interview.
