Several states in the U.S. have recently passed age verification laws for adult oriented sites. I make sure to keep only PG-13 material in front of the paywall, so I am probably in compliance. But, unfortunately, I’m going to have to be sure. That means that I will soon implement a change to block traffic from IP addresses in the following states: Arkansas, Idaho Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Montana, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Carolina, Texas, Utah, and Virginia. If you live in one of those states, you may want to think about contacting your state government to repeal those laws. You might also want to think about changing your IP address via a VPN, although I don’t advise you to do so. I’m not sure when this change will take place, but I am working on it.
Well, that’s unfortunate. Wouldn’t porting content to Patreon/SubscribeStar.adult solve this? Then it would be up on those sites to age verify paying users. I am sure sites like that have those age verification laws covered. Yes, there would be fees but it may be less costly than losing paying users from the mentioned US states. Or you could go middle ground, not port anything and just use their signing for your site like some other creators do, for example NandoF uses SubscribeStar authorization for his site http://www.nandofcomic3ds.com, age verification would be ensured by SS and US citizens could still use your website without VPN. I belive this site uses 3rd party payment processing service for membership payments so basically it would be just switching one service for another that also covers login and age verification. Worth a shot looking into that before cutting access.
Those sites don’t work well for me. I used to have a page at both places. But I’m going to see if I can make compliance work with an age verification company. Stay tuned.
if we’re already paying members in said impacted states, based on what you’re saying, we should just go on ahead and cancel our memberships, because you’re going to block us anyway? I want to make sure I’m understanding what you’re saying…
Yes, I am giving people in those states a warning. I didn’t want to suddenly spring this on anyone. If you feel you need to cancel because of this, I wanted to give you at least a 30 day heads up. I will give another warning when I know exactly when this will happen.
not at all to be direct, but have you contacted an attorney to see if your actions might be necessary? If you’re going to block us paying customers (i.e., already verified) , what’s the point of keeping a membership? and do you know potentially how many customers your actions might negatively impact?
I don’t know exactly, but I would guess around 200 members would be affected. Thanks to your comments and others, I’m making another attempt to see if I can achieve compliance with age verification software. Stay tuned.
I’m not sure why you keep saying you’ll have to block people from those ips unless they use a vpn. Other sites have complied with those laws through age verification. As someone who resides in one of those states, it seems to me you just don’t want to take the trouble to do that so you are recommending vpns to get around it.
I’m following the advice of the Free Speech Coalition. Since there are so many states involved, it is unclear whether those age verification services actually comply with every state. I am a cautious person, and do not want to violate any of those laws. Of course, other adult sites will make different decisions about this. Here is a link with info: https://www.freespeechcoalition.com/faq/#whos-affected
None of this is pleasant for me, and will likely cost me revenue. Which will affect the projects I can fund. It’s all very unfortunate.
This is so unfortunate. I live in one of those states and am very disappointed in our lawmakers. I’m sad that I may not be able to find out how some of my favorite stories end!
As I mentioned in the post, there will be options to change your IP address to access the site. But I can’t tell you to use a VPN to get around the law.
That’s what I meant about the paywall. I think so. But there are so many different laws, that to be careful, I’m going to have to block access from IPs from all those states.
Yes, it sucks. Like I said in the post, there are ways for you to still access the site once the change happens, but for legal reasons, I won’t recommend them.
Well, that’s unfortunate. Wouldn’t porting content to Patreon/SubscribeStar.adult solve this? Then it would be up on those sites to age verify paying users. I am sure sites like that have those age verification laws covered. Yes, there would be fees but it may be less costly than losing paying users from the mentioned US states. Or you could go middle ground, not port anything and just use their signing for your site like some other creators do, for example NandoF uses SubscribeStar authorization for his site http://www.nandofcomic3ds.com, age verification would be ensured by SS and US citizens could still use your website without VPN. I belive this site uses 3rd party payment processing service for membership payments so basically it would be just switching one service for another that also covers login and age verification. Worth a shot looking into that before cutting access.
Those sites don’t work well for me. I used to have a page at both places. But I’m going to see if I can make compliance work with an age verification company. Stay tuned.
if we’re already paying members in said impacted states, based on what you’re saying, we should just go on ahead and cancel our memberships, because you’re going to block us anyway? I want to make sure I’m understanding what you’re saying…
Yes, I am giving people in those states a warning. I didn’t want to suddenly spring this on anyone. If you feel you need to cancel because of this, I wanted to give you at least a 30 day heads up. I will give another warning when I know exactly when this will happen.
not at all to be direct, but have you contacted an attorney to see if your actions might be necessary? If you’re going to block us paying customers (i.e., already verified) , what’s the point of keeping a membership? and do you know potentially how many customers your actions might negatively impact?
I don’t know exactly, but I would guess around 200 members would be affected. Thanks to your comments and others, I’m making another attempt to see if I can achieve compliance with age verification software. Stay tuned.
I’m not sure why you keep saying you’ll have to block people from those ips unless they use a vpn. Other sites have complied with those laws through age verification. As someone who resides in one of those states, it seems to me you just don’t want to take the trouble to do that so you are recommending vpns to get around it.
I’m following the advice of the Free Speech Coalition. Since there are so many states involved, it is unclear whether those age verification services actually comply with every state. I am a cautious person, and do not want to violate any of those laws. Of course, other adult sites will make different decisions about this. Here is a link with info: https://www.freespeechcoalition.com/faq/#whos-affected
None of this is pleasant for me, and will likely cost me revenue. Which will affect the projects I can fund. It’s all very unfortunate.
This is so unfortunate. I live in one of those states and am very disappointed in our lawmakers. I’m sad that I may not be able to find out how some of my favorite stories end!
As I mentioned in the post, there will be options to change your IP address to access the site. But I can’t tell you to use a VPN to get around the law.
Does membership count for age verification?
That’s what I meant about the paywall. I think so. But there are so many different laws, that to be careful, I’m going to have to block access from IPs from all those states.
Being a person in one of those states; I am more than a little interested. 🫣
Yes, it sucks. Like I said in the post, there are ways for you to still access the site once the change happens, but for legal reasons, I won’t recommend them.