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【每天一篇经济学人】The internet 互联网(2023年第41期)

2023-07-22 22:52 作者:荟呀荟学习  | 我要投稿

文章来源:《经济学人》Jul 15th 2023 期 United States 栏目 The internet


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“Is anyone else’s Pornhub not working?” tweeted the mischievous grey-haired grandma and state senator L. Louise Lucas of Virginia on June 30th. Mrs Lucas knew that the website would stop working for her and millions of Virginians that weekend. Virginia, along with Mississippi, Utah and Louisiana, passed a law this year requiring users to prove they are an adult before accessing pornographic websites. Arkansas, Montana and Texas have similar policies that will go into effect over the coming months.

“有人的Pornhub也不能用了吗?” 6 月 30 日,弗吉尼亚州参议员路易斯·卢卡斯(一位白发奶奶)在推特上调皮地写道。卢卡斯奶奶知道这个网站将在那个周末关停,不再为她和数百万弗吉尼亚人服务。弗吉尼亚州、密西西比州、犹他州和路易斯安那州今年通过了一项法律,要求用户在访问色情网站之前证明他们是成年人。阿肯色州、蒙大拿州和德克萨斯州也有类似的政策,将在未来几个月内生效。

 

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Supporters of these laws claim that they will protect children. “This is about not putting children in harm’s way,” says William Stanley, junior, a Virginia state senator and the bill’s author. There is just one problem: the laws do not seem to work.

反色情法律的支持者声称这些法律将保护儿童。弗吉尼亚州参议员、该法案的起草人威廉·斯坦利说:“这是为了不让儿童受到伤害。”但有一个问题:法律似乎不起作用。

 

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Lawmakers hoping to stop minors from watching pornography face several obstacles. First, porn enthusiasts of all ages seem intent on getting around the new laws. The day before Virginia’s policy went into effect on July 1st, interest in the search term “VPN” (a virtual private network allows users to appear as if they are watching outside a state with age­verification laws) spiked in Virginia.

立法者试图阻止未成年人观看色情内容,但面临着几个障碍。首先,各个年龄段的色情爱好者似乎都有意绕过这些新法律。弗吉尼亚州法律于7月1日生效,而在此前一天,弗吉尼亚州“V-N”的搜索量激增。

 

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Those users who might be willing to follow the laws seem worried about companies or governments keeping records of their proclivities. In Louisiana, a state-run identification programme called LA Wallet verifies a user’s age. The other three states–Mississippi, Utah and Virginia–require websites to collect the sensitive data.

用户愿意遵守法律,但他们似乎也担心公司或政府会记录他们的特殊癖好。路易斯安那州开发一个LA Wallet身份识别程序,用于验证用户的年龄。其他3个州——密西西比州、犹他州和弗吉尼亚州——要求网站收集敏感数据。

 

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Few adults want to out themselves as porn enthusiasts by offering up an ID (with full name, address, and photograph). In any case, MindGeek has now pre-empted that by blocking access in some states that require age verification. “We will not operate in jurisdictions that require that we put people’s private information at risk,” says Solomon Friedman, one of the owners of MindGeek, which owns several pornographic websites (and therefore has a commercial interest in making users feel as anonymous as possible online).

几乎没有成年人愿意提供身份证件(包括全名、地址和照片)来公开表明自己是色情爱好者。不管怎样,MindGeek 现已预先采取行动,阻止了一些要求年龄验证的州的访问。MindGeek 的创始人之一所罗门·弗里德曼表示:“如果一些司法管辖区要求我们将用户的隐私信息置于危险之中,我们将不在那里开展业务。”MindGeek 拥有多个色情网站(因此让用户在网上隐身匿名是有商业利益的)。

 

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Why are state legislatures passing these ineffective laws, mostly with bipartisan support (and at times, unanimous backing)? It is just too awkward for politicians from either party to be seen to be casting a vote for porn. “I think they’re concerned that someone’s going to accuse them of supporting…children seeing pornography,” says John Edwards, a Virginia state senator. He and only two other legislators voted against Virginia’s bill.

为什么州立法机构会通过这些无效的法律,大多数时候都得到两党支持(有时是一致支持)?对于任何一方的政客来说,被认为投票支持色情是非常尴尬的。弗吉尼亚州参议员约翰·爱德华兹说:“我认为他们担心有人会指责他们支持......孩子们观看色情内容。”他和另外2名议员在弗吉尼亚州法案上投了反对票。

 

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Mandie Landry, a Louisiana state representative, says that her colleagues are afraid of negative campaign headlines. “I can take a vote like that,” says Ms Landry, who represents a heavily Democratic district. “But my colleagues from rural areas can’t do it.” She was the lone dissenting vote in Louisiana’s legislature.

路易斯安那州代表曼迪·兰德里表示,她的同事们担心负面头条新闻会给竞选带来影响。“我可以投反对票,”代表民主党占多数选区的兰德里女士说。“但来自农村地区的同事们不能这么做。”兰德里是路易斯安那州立法机构中唯一一位投反对票的人。

 

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American states are not alone in their struggle to come up with laws that work. A similar law passed in Britain in 2017 has yet to be enforced. Australia’s government is struggling to find suitable methods to verify age for its new policy. On July 7th a French court postponed enforcement of a law that would have blocked porn sites. “The intention behind these laws is good,” says Amanda Lenhart of Common Sense Media, which advocates for child safety in the media. But making them work is another matter.

美国各州不是制定无效法律的个例。英国2017年通过的类似法律尚未实施。澳大利亚政府正在努力寻找合适的年龄验证方法以执行其新政策。7月7日,法国一家法院推迟了一项封锁色情网站法律的执行。“常识媒体”(媒体儿童安全倡导组织)的阿曼达·伦哈特说:“这些法律背后的初衷是好的”。但让法律发挥作用又是另一回事。

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