Governor vetoes bill forcing porn sites to verify age of viewers [Video]

PHOENIX — Gov. Katie Hobbs has vetoed legislation that would have required pornographic websites to verify the age of their users in Arizona before permitting access.

House Bill 2586 would have subjected companies operating adult-themed websites to civil liability if they published explicit material online without performing a reasonable age-verification method.  

Supporters of the bill insisted it was needed to protect children from age-inappropriate content, while opponents argued the legislation amounted to a form of government surveillance and censorship.

According to the language of the bill, the commercial entity performing the age-verification process would not be able to retain any of the individual’s identifying information after access is granted to the content. 

The legislation appears to be an attempt to replicate a similar bill recently passed in Texas requiring an age-verification process for adult websites in that state. The …