September 1st: Texans, Fire Up Your VPNs, or Present Your Government-Issued ID to View Porn Online

[Homercles 10,206]

[YGIFS 19,452]

Since the VPN requirement/porn ban went into effect............100 more rape kits went untested, 50 more molestations occurred in our foster care system, and 50 more incidences involving coaches and clergy raping children or trading digital media of the same.  And the clearance rack at Lane Bryant has been pillaged.  I was assured that this ban would lead to more rape or children's sexual assault.  But here we are.  

 

I am still waiting on somebody to justify this.  Nobody wants children watching pornography online.  But how is this helping the Freedom State we call Texas?  

I used to forget how stupid Texans were.  Now I am witness to it every hour, on the hour. 

[crash_davis 23,114]

1 hour ago, YGIFS said:

Since the VPN requirement/porn ban went into effect............100 more rape kits went untested, 50 more molestations occurred in our foster care system, and 50 more incidences involving coaches and clergy raping children or trading digital media of the same.  And the clearance rack at Lane Bryant has been pillaged.  I was assured that this ban would lead to more rape or children's sexual assault.  But here we are.  

 

I am still waiting on somebody to justify this.  Nobody wants children watching pornography online.  But how is this helping the Freedom State we call Texas?  

I used to forget how stupid Texans were.  Now I am witness to it every hour, on the hour. 

Why do you hate Jesus, you commie bastard?

[Fudge Nuggets 19,209]

On 3/14/2024 at 8:55 PM, Biff Tannen said:

I came across these while cleaning out a cabinet the other day. Sometimes the gods smile upon us. 
 

 

4, 2, 3, 1

[Pods 7,586]

On 3/15/2024 at 7:48 PM, Francisco 2.0 said:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Can confirm. 

 

[crash_davis 23,114]

I feel safer that fake jesus dipshits are protecting my freedoms.

 

https://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/article/pornhub-alternatives-19196631.php

For these thirsty search terms, we'll look at Thursday, March 14, through Friday, March 22. That's the time frame from when Pornhub's ban went into effect through the time this story was written. Google's data may get updates over time.

One of the top searches for that time period — up 3,500% — was "how to watch porn in Texas?" Lubbock scored highest and the East Texas region of Tyler-Longview and Lufkin Nacogdoches searched for the term second most. Corpus Christ came third, followed by the region encompassing Waco, Temple, and Bryan at No. 4. The top five was rounded out by Austin and San Antonio finished No. 7.

The top search term for VPNs in Texas was "free VPN." The search traffic for this is a close race near the top, but Austin ranked No. 1, followed by Waco, Temple, and Bryan at No. 2; Lubbock at No. 3; DFW at No. 4; and Wichita Falls and Lawton, Oklahoma, at No. 5. San Antonio fell to No. 8 for this search.

Another popular search term is "Pornhub alternatives." Abilene and Sweetwater make an appearance as the area searching the most for this, by a healthy margin. Austin landed spot No. 2; Corpus Christi was No. 3; Amarillo was No. 4; and the East Texas region appears again at No. 5. San Antonio followed closely at No. 6.

Other "breakout" search terms, which means they were up 5,000% or more, include: How to access Pornhub in Texas; VPN; Pornhub VPN; Pornhub access; porn websites; and top porn sites. The list goes on and on with untold numbers of Texans scrambling to find ways to stimulate their visual cortex before they stimulate other things.

[Gap03 3,308]

37 minutes ago, crash_davis said:

One of the top searches for that time period — up 3,500% — was "how to watch porn in Texas?" Lubbock scored highest and the East Texas region of Tyler-Longview and Lufkin Nacogdoches searched for the term second most. Corpus Christ came third, followed by the region encompassing Waco, Temple, and Bryan at No. 4. The top five was rounded out by Austin and San Antonio finished No. 7.

 

Leopards Eating People's Faces strike again ... Of course, it could also be a function of those areas being heavily populated with idiots that don't know how to work the internets.

Edited March 26 by Gap03

[YGIFS 19,452]

How you small-government fuckbags doing today?  Just wanna check in.

[Chad Fuck 17,698]

How you small-government fuckbags doing today?  Just wanna check in.

Not good, Bob.

[freyguy 4,281]

I can still get my fix.  But I ain't doing my sources now....up yours Greg!!!

[hayden_horn 11,364]

they going to shut down the entire internet? what's the endgame here?

[crash_davis 23,114]

1 hour ago, hayden_horn said:

they going to shut down the entire internet? what's the endgame here?

It's a publicity stunt. The evangelical fake christians are masturbating. 

 

Voters: Can you protect kids from school shootings?

Texas: Best I can do is to fake protect them from porn.

Voters: Hallelujah!

[atomheartbevo 89,757]

1 hour ago, hayden_horn said:

they going to shut down the entire internet? what's the endgame here?

Kansas is joining the chat

https://apnews.com/article/internet-pornography-age-verification-states-2ad9939bb95ccc15126419b38067be94

And more are on deck.

Quote

At least eight states have enacted age-verification laws since 2022 — Texas, Arkansas, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Utah and Virginia, and lawmakers have introduced proposals in more than 20 other states, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures and an analysis from The Associated Press of data from the Plural bill-tracking service.

 

[NeverMarryAStripper 21,912]

Is the same company profiting of the age verification in all of the states, and which GOP donor owns it?

[Beau Vine 54,315]

On 3/21/2024 at 1:43 PM, crash_davis said:

Why do you hate Jesus, you commie bastard?

I love Jesus, but I fucking hate "Christians" now.

[Francisco 2.0 32,395]

Looking forward to the State of Texas forcing users to prove their age to use Twitter.  I'm imagining the amount of concern that this will create:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Biff Tannen 45,695]

Hamster was available on my phone still last night, but not now.  They'll never be able to stop all sites.  This is so dumb.  Fucking fascists.

[tokamak 6,432]

3 hours ago, Francisco 2.0 said:

Looking forward to the State of Texas forcing users to prove their age to use Twitter.  I'm imagining the amount of concern that this will create:

 

 

 

 

 

 

They won’t ever block Twitter because Elon is their guy now. 

Edited March 29 by tokamak

[atomheartbevo 89,757]

41 minutes ago, Biff Tannen said:

Hamster was available on my phone still last night, but not now.  They'll never be able to stop all sites.  This is so dumb.  Fucking fascists.

We know who jinxed it:

On 3/14/2024 at 8:57 PM, freyguy said:

my right-hand man told me that xhamster is still working.

Here’s the notice:

Dear visitor,

Please be informed that access to the xHamster platform has been temporarily restricted for all our visitors located within the state of Texas.

This temporary restriction has been decided due to many uncertainties surrounding the Texas House Bill No. 1181.
Rest assured that we are monitoring the situation closely and will make all reasonable efforts to restore access to the xHamster platform.

Thank you for your understanding and we apologize for any inconvenience that this may cause.

—-

ImageFap and most of the others in the same vein as xhamster are still around, and most of us are using VPNs so not a big deal, but I already have had to help a few older relatives with VPNs so I’m hoping there won’t be anymore of this nonsense, and I’m hoping said relatives stay away from sketchier sites.

Edited March 29 by atomheartbevo

[hayden_horn 11,364]

11 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

Kansas is joining the chat

https://apnews.com/article/internet-pornography-age-verification-states-2ad9939bb95ccc15126419b38067be94

And more are on deck.

 

this is like a completely illogical mass hysteria event like outlawing booze right?

[Biff Tannen 45,695]

2 minutes ago, hayden_horn said:

this is like a completely illogical mass hysteria event like outlawing booze right?

So I can look forward to porno speakeasies?  Whoa that’s a weird plural. 

[hayden_horn 11,364]

porno speakeasy is a badass punk band name

[Beau Vine 54,315]

I suppose my wife would see right through me installing a VPN right now?

Oh well, I only have another month in this shithole state anyways...

[Biff Tannen 45,695]

43 minutes ago, Beau Vine said:

I suppose my wife would see right through me installing a VPN right now?

Oh well, I only have another month in this shithole state anyways...

My wife is the one that asked me about how we could keep watching pron.

[atomheartbevo 89,757]

9 minutes ago, Biff Tannen said:

My wife is the one that asked me about how we could keep watching pron.

[ConferenceRoom 6,144]

1 hour ago, hayden_horn said:

porno speakeasy is a badass punk band name

You’d better copyright that before Lobo rolls in here. 

[atomheartbevo 89,757]

2 hours ago, hayden_horn said:

this is like a completely illogical mass hysteria event like outlawing booze right?

Depends on whether they go after VPNs or not.

[YGIFS 19,452]

2 hours ago, ConferenceRoom said:

You’d better copyright that before Lobo rolls in here. 

Too late.  They already opened for “illogical mass hysteria” in Belgium.  

[Deej 76,858]

Ken Paxton won't let you watch regular porn if he can't safely watch kiddie porn. 

[atomheartbevo 89,757]

[Nivek 16,948]

 

We are protecting the kids from porn, but not bullets.

[Hank Kingsley 20,991]

Male republican voters have now lost football, Bud Light, HEB, and porn in the national divorce. Are they transitioning? 

 

[Pescado_Rojo 19,427]

On 3/28/2024 at 10:08 PM, Beau Vine said:

I suppose my wife would see right through me installing a VPN right now?

Oh well, I only have another month in this shithole state anyways...

Beau Vine's first night in Colorado

[Pam Cummings 9,647]

This is nothing more than a massive data collection scheme. Same with the Florida law that's supposed to keep the kids off social media. Because we hate the government telling us how to parent, but Lord Abbott and Lord Paxton are different from the government.

Edited April 1 by Pam Cummings

[kevwun 15,811]

NordVPN has a special right now where you get 2 years for around $100.  It also comes with NordPass which is a secure password manager that is well regarded.

[Brisketexan 105,177]

NordVPN has a special right now where you get 2 years for around $100.  It also comes with NordPass which is a secure password manager that is well regarded.

My kids are both loyal NordVPN users - they have needed a US VPN when overseas, to watch US programming etc. And I actually need one when I’m out of the country as well (I work even when I travel for leisure), as a lot of courts and related sites don’t allow non-US addresses to access them, so I got it too. It does the job.

[Post Oak 20,254]

44 minutes ago, kevwun said:

NordVPN has a special right now where you get 2 years for around $100.  It also comes with NordPass which is a secure password manager that is well regarded.

"Well regarded" in the literal sense or in the Surly sense?  

[kevwun 15,811]

Literal sense.  It's secure and works pretty well.

[chainsaw 9,872]

VPNs should announce a No Fap version of their services on April Fools.

[immamac 42,877]

NordVPN is probably one of the best if not the best pay for VPN service. 

I can provide a VPN as part of the member subscription if people really are looking for one now. That could be a good way to drive subs for surly and is relatively low/no cost for me to be able to run. 

[Viper 12,109]

I also use Nord and it's pretty great. You can get 3 months free on your order using a referral link

https://ref.nordvpn.com/zUQthRdXXtD

 

Edited April 6 by Viper

[Samson's Wig 3,193]

Express VPN user here.  I've been very happy with it.  A bit faster than NordVPN, in my experience, but there may be other drawbacks I haven't noticed yet.

[chainsaw 9,872]

https://www.freespeechcoalition.com/blog/cert-petition

ACLU, Free Speech Coalition and Partners Urge Supreme Court to Strike Down Unconstitutional Texas Law Burdening Adult Access to Sexual Content

Legal

Apr 12

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 12, 2024

MEDIA CONTACT:
ACLU Media, media@aclu.org 
FSC Media, press@freespeechcoalition.com

WASHINGTON – Represented by the American Civil Liberties Union and the law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, the Free Speech Coalition and others today asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a lower court ruling that, if left standing, would improperly burden free speech online. The petition for certiorari was filed in Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton, which challenges an unconstitutional age-verification provision in Texas’s H.B. 1181. 

“Though it purportedly seeks to limit minors’ access to online sexual content, the law in fact imposes significant burdens on adults’ access to constitutionally-protected expression, requiring them to provide personal identifying information online to access sensitive, intimate content” said Vera Eidelman, staff attorney with the ACLU Speech, Privacy and Technology Project. “This isn’t the first time that concerns about minors’ access have led legislators to pass unconstitutional laws. We’ve gone through this time and again, with everything from drive-in movies to video games to websites, and courts have repeatedly struck down laws imposing requirements that burden adults’ access to non-obscene sexual content in the name of protecting children.”

HB 1181 requires certain sites with sexual content to force their visitors to provide digital IDs or other proof of age before they can access the published material. Sites that do not comply could face up to $3 million in fines. This provision claims to protect minors from accessing sexual content deemed harmful to them, but it does not merely restrict minors’ access. It also restricts adults’ access to this content, effectively requiring them to identify themselves online. Requiring individuals to verify their ages before accessing this protected speech robs people of anonymity, and threatens to bar individuals—for example, those who lack government identification or whose age is mis-identified by the relevant technology—from accessing certain websites altogether. The ACLU and its partners argue that the law places an impermissible burden on the exercise of adults’ First Amendment rights online. 

“Despite proponent’s claims, age-verification online is simply not the same as flashing an ID at a check-out counter. The process is invasive and burdensome, with significant privacy risks for adult consumers,” said Alison Boden, executive director of the Free Speech Coalition. “In states where these laws have passed, the vast majority of users have refused to comply, leading to a massive chilling effect on their legal right to access constitutionally protected speech. Adult sites are the canary in the coal mine of free speech, and we look forward to defending the rights of all Americans to access the internet free from surveillance.” 

Before the case reached the Supreme Court, a district court briefly blocked the law from being enforced, stating that, as written, the law’s age-verification provision would unconstitutionally chill the speech of adults. However, a divided Fifth Circuit panel recently vacated that injunction, reasoning that the age-verification provisions’ burden on adults’ First Amendment rights merely has to have some rational basis–not face strict scrutiny–because the aim is to protect children.  Unless the Supreme Court intervenes, this decision will effectively reverse decades of precedent protecting the free speech rights of adults. 

In prior cases brought by the ACLU, the Supreme Court has repeatedly recognized the crucial role anonymity can play online and held that requiring users to verify their age to access protected content is unconstitutional where there are less restrictive alternatives available, like filtering software. In Reno v. ACLU, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that anti-indecency provisions of the 1996 Communications Decency Act, also meant to protect children, violated the First Amendment's guarantee of freedom of speech in part because of the burden it imposed on adults. In Ashcroft v. ACLU, the Court held that a law almost identical to the Texas law had to satisfy strict scrutiny because it restricted adults’ access to protected sexual speech.  Where a less-restrictive alternative exists—for example, the installation of filtering software on minors’ devices, which states can encourage or legislate—the government cannot impose age verification on adults in the name of protecting children.

Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton is one of several cases in which the ACLU has urged courts to reject age-verification schemes that would burden the free speech rights of Internet users as part of the organization’s long tradition of defending online free expression. This petition was filed jointly by the ACLU and the law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan on behalf of Free Speech Coalition, Inc., et al.  

The brief can be found online here.

[tokamak 6,432]

Anyone used Proton VPN?

[Goofyboy 3,293]

Anyone used Proton VPN?

That’s what I’m currently using. It’s free, unless you want to pick a specific country.

[YGIFS 19,452]

11 minutes ago, Goofyboy said:

That’s what I’m currently using. It’s free, unless you want to pick a specific country.

Hungary porn is surprisingly hot, great looking models.  

 

Oh wait, you fucking nerds still talking about VPN shit 

[Bozo_Casanova 26,510]

Since this is the VPN thread now, has anybody used the Duck Duck Go VPN yet? Haven’t seen many reviews and it just launched. My current solution is too slow.

[BurntEyes 6,005]

10 hours ago, tokamak said:

Anyone used Proton VPN?

That's what I use. The pay to play version. It's fast, but there are a goodly number of web pages that kick back when in use. Banking is one of them. I've found if I switch to a US first link it works or short term turn it off. Happy to learn of work arounds others might know for this issue, since this now seems to be the VPN thread.

[Biff Tannen 45,695]

Xvideos still up and running with no issues.

[tokamak 6,432]

37 minutes ago, BurntEyes said:

That's what I use. The pay to play version. It's fast, but there are a goodly number of web pages that kick back when in use. Banking is one of them. I've found if I switch to a US first link it works or short term turn it off. Happy to learn of work arounds others might know for this issue, since this now seems to be the VPN thread.

Interesting. I've never used a VPN so I wasn't aware that some websites kick you back. Is that just a Proton thing or does it happen with all of them? Wouldn't be a big deal for me in any case, I just plan to use it for MLB.tv and, uh, websites that Ken Paxton doesn't want me to visit.

Been thinking about switching to (paid) Proton from Gmail anyway. Needing a VPN too might be the catalyst to finally do it.