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Culture War Roundup for the week of August 28, 2023

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I'm not certain how forbidding minors from viewing porn impinges on the free speech rights of adults.

Lets do the ad absurdum case just to demonstrate how it's possible in the abstract.

Imagine the law said 'to ensure that no minors see the sight, every time the site is pinged by a new IP, the site must block that IP until the completion of an investigation by a private investigator into the owner of that IP address, to make sure that there is not a reasonable possibility that any child could have access to device. The site is responsible for paying for this investigation from an approved vendor, we've approved 2 vendors and they both charge $10k per IP address'.

Clearly no business can make money under that regime, so the law would in practice just mean 'porn sites are illegal now'. This certainly impinges on the ability for adults to exercise free speech in this area, even though the law does not explicitly say as much.

The case here is not that extreme, but it's the same idea: undue burdens, chilling effects, etc.