Republican Governor of Utah, Spencer Cox, signed a controversial piece of legislation on Tuesday requiring all smartphones and tablets sold in Utah to have filters that can block pornography.
Governor Cox has said that the proposal would send an “important message” about prohibiting children from gaining access to explicit online material, according to The Associated Press.
The bill states that it would require a smart phone or tablet sold in Utah and made “on or after January 1 of the year following the year this bill takes effect to, when activated in the state, automatically enable a filter capable of blocking material that is harmful to minors …”
The filter on the device must “prevent the user of the device from accessing material that is harmful to minors on the device; enable certain users to deactivate the filter for the device or for specific content; and notify the user when content is filtered,” according to the legislation.
The measure will take effect on the first day of January following the day when at least five other states put forth similar laws and those laws take effect themselves, according to the bill’s language. The AP reports that this provision was included in order “to address concerns that [the measure] would be difficult to implement.”
The American Civil Liberties Union of Utah said that the bill’s constitutionality was not given enough thought and that it will probably go to the courts.
“This is another example of the Legislature dodging the constitutional impacts of the legislation they pass,” ACLU attorney Jason Groth said.
Adult film star, Cherie DeVille, recently requested that Governor Cox veto the bill, in a letter published in the Daily Beast over the weekend. DeVille said that the measure would infringe on First Amendment rights.
While the bill specifically states that it will prevent children from viewing pornographic images, DeVille claimed in the letter that it would also prohibit adults from accessing porn on smartphones. DeVille wrote, “Considering Pornhub recorded 16 visits per capita in Utah in 2015, you would be upsetting many voters. More importantly, you would be violating consumers’ and pornographers’ free speech rights.”
DeVille made the argument that “Porn is far from the most dangerous aspect of cellphones for kids. Studies show cellphones increase children’s depression. If Utah strips porn from cellphones, kids can still log onto Grand Theft Auto and role-play as a violent murderer who shoots sex workers.”
DeVille continued, “It’s hard to believe your fellow Republicans are fighting to protect kids’ eyes when they’re OK with children consuming violent games, movies, and television shows. Stop using ‘protect the children’ when your real goal is to stop adults from watching porn.”
If the filters are put onto the devices, adults would have the ability to turn them off if they wanted to do so. However, critics of the legislation still say that it has some legal hurdles.
Before signing the bill, Governor Cox had not demonstrated publicly what he was going to do. He had until March 25 to make a decision.
AP reports that states might follow Utah’s lead on restricting pornography, since “more than a dozen states advanced similar resolutions to declare porn a public health crisis after Utah became the first to do so in 2016.”