DENVER—A bipartisan age verification bill that explicitly targets adult entertainment platforms was introduced last week in the Colorado Senate, CBS News reports. Senate Bill (SB) 25-201 was introduced by Democratic state Reps. Meghan Lukens and Mandy Lindsay, and Sens. Lindsey Daugherty, a Democrat, and Paul Lundeen, a Republican.
Introduced March 20, SB 25-201 surprisingly lacks an enforcement mechanism, but still requires compliance for adult entertainment platforms with adult users sourced to Colorado's digital space. The bill was advanced through the Senate Health and Human Services Committee to the whole Senate on a vote of 8-1 on Thursday.
The bill requires platforms to use "reasonable" and "commercially available technologies" to verify a user's age.
Additionally, the structure of the bill would also require companies that are designated as "covered platforms" to undergo yearly audits to certify that the chosen AV measures they deploy meet a "relevant, recognized, international standard."
"Covered platforms" are described in the bill as platforms that host material that is "harmful to minors" and age-restricted. Though it appears to be more specific compared to other age verification bills in neighboring states, it is considerably open-ended as to how "covered platforms" would be defined in regulation if the bill is adopted as a law.
What is also unique to SB 25-201 is that websites cannot rely entirely on IP addresses to accurately establish the location of users attempting to log in to an adult website. Language in the bill would require covered platforms to use both IP addresses and other "available technology" to ensure "due diligence" that a user is or isn't located within Colorado's boundaries. This means that the bill requires the platforms to have additional checks that could be done through analyzing online network traffic patterns or other means.
SB 25-201 also mandates the use of certified age verification software that doesn't share personal data, which is a part of similar bills adopted in other states. Additionally, the bill would require the platforms to provide some sort of appeal process to users if the age verification measure used to determine age gives an incorrect age determination. Iain Corby of the Age Verification Providers Association has already endorsed the Colorado bill.
Corby told CBS News, "The bill requires what we already require in the industry, which is to immediately delete any personal info used in that process. ... There's even one solution where you just wave your fingers around, because this tendon ages differently, and they can figure out your age with 99 [percent] certainty."
Alison Boden and Mike Stabile of the Free Speech Coalition and Mandy Salley of the Woodhull Freedom Foundation testified against the bill during Thursday's committee hearing.
"In its present form, [the] Free Speech Coalition has to oppose SB 201," Boden said during the hearing. "The bill is rife with free speech and privacy issues that the Supreme Court will be ruling on within the next three months."
Throughout much of the committee hearing, mention was made of the pending U.S. Supreme Court ruling on Free Speech Coalition et al. v. Paxton, which could potentially render age verification bills like SB 25-201 unconstitutional for violating millions of people's First Amendment rights.
Boden continued, "Even worse, it specifically targets the LGBTQ community because its definition of 'material harmful to children' includes acts of homosexuality."
Stabile additionally testified, also representing his public relations firm, Polari Media. The American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado also opposed the bill, aligned with the national ACLU.
