Woodhull Freedom Foundation Urges Florida Senators to Reject 'Unconstitutional' Age Verification Bill

Woodhull Freedom Foundation Urges Florida Senators to Reject 'Unconstitutional' Age Verification Bill

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Woodhull Freedom Foundation reached out to every member of the Florida Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, urging them to reject the state’s proposed age verification bill HB 3 as “not only unconstitutional and a danger to consumer privacy, but ineffective at preventing minors from accessing adult content.”

HB 3 is scheduled to be considered by the committee on Thursday.

The communication was written by Woodhull’s General Counsel, First Amendment expert Lawrence Walters.

This is the text of the communication:

My name is Lawrence G. Walters, and I am writing on behalf of the Woodhull Freedom Foundation as its General Counsel to express serious concerns regarding HB3.

While we agree completely with the goal of keeping children from material that is age-inappropriate or harmful, similar bills introduced in Texas, Louisiana, Utah, and other states have raised significant privacy risks for consumers and are in violation of their First Amendment protections.

As you may be aware, a number of states have passed similar bills. Unfortunately, these bills are not only unconstitutional and a danger to consumer privacy, they are ineffective at preventing minors from accessing adult content. The restrictions are easily evaded through the use of VPNs (as more than 40% of minors already use the technology), have little impact on overseas and pirate sites, and fail to address adult content on search engines or social media where children are most likely to stumble upon it. In fact, these bills encourage the growth of explicit sexual content on non-adult sites.

Compliance with HB 3 also requires a user to transmit extremely sensitive data – such as digitized copies of their government-issued identification, biometric scans, or other forms of data used by commercial age verification software providers – over the internet. The mere collection of this information opens citizens to the risk of data breaches. Even good actors and governments struggle to secure this type of data, as we’ve seen countless times in recent years. Just months after Louisiana’s bill went into effect, the Office of Motor Vehicles suffered a cyberattack and data breach.

Finally, sexually explicit content is First Amendment-protected speech and the Supreme Court has ruled repeatedly that restrictions on its production and consumption face the highest legal bar: strict scrutiny.

In Reno v. ACLU (1997), the Court struck down the statutory provisions of the Communications Decency Act (CDA) requiring use of age verification software as an unconstitutional content-based blanket restriction on speech, saying, “[i]n order to deny minors access to potentially harmful speech, the CDA effectively suppresses a large amount of speech that adults have a constitutional right to receive and address to one another.” Numerous other courts have struck down similar age verification laws over the past 20 years.

The solution is simple. Parental controls and device-level filters are effective tools if parents and schools are willing to use them. This technology not only puts power where it should be – in the hands of parents and caregivers – it is widely available, fully supported by industry, and endorsed by the Supreme Court.

Bills that so severely impact our First Amendment rights deserve serious consideration and debate. We ask that you veto HB3, and direct the legislature to work with technology companies, privacy experts and affected communities to find an effective solution. Thanks for your consideration.

For more information, visit WoodhullFoundation.org.

Copyright © 2025 Adnet Media. All Rights Reserved. XBIZ is a trademark of Adnet Media.
Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission is prohibited.

More News

Sara Jay, Dan Leal to Sponsor XBIZ Amsterdam Kick-Off Event

Sara Jay’s Wyde Syde Productions and Porno Dan Leal’s Market64 will co-sponsor the Bottoms Up Day Drinking kick-off event for XBIZ Amsterdam 2025 at Excalibur Café on Sept. 2, from 2-4 p.m. (CET).

AEBN Publishes Report on DP Trends

AEBN has published a report on DP and extreme penetration categories from its straight and gay theaters.

Free Speech Coalition Appoints Megan Stokes to Board of Directors

The Free Speech Coalition (FSC) announced today that it has appointed Megan Stokes to its Board of Directors.

FansRevenue Acquires DivaTraffic

FansRevenue has acquired web traffic service DivaTraffic.

AEBN Announces Peter Green as Top Male Boy/Girl Performer for Summer 2025

AEBN has revealed its top 10 male Boy/Girl performers for summer 2025, with Peter Green landing atop the leaderboard.

Spicey AI Relaunches Site, Debuts $Spicey Tokens

Interactive voice chat platform Spicey AI has relaunched its website and introduced $Spicey tokens.

FSC: Missouri Age Verification Rule Will Not Take Effect August 30

The Free Speech Coalition (FSC) announced that Missouri's proposed age verification legislation will not take effect on August 30, as it had originally estimated.

Little Caprice, Marcello Bravo to Co-Host 2025 XMA Europa Awards

XBIZ is pleased to announce that husband-and-wife duo Little Caprice and Marcello Bravo will co-host adult’s biggest night in Europe: the 2025 XMA Europa Awards on Sept. 4, in the epic climax to XBIZ’s fall events series.

Germany Will Block Payments to AV-Noncompliant Adult Sites as of Dec. 1

Starting Dec. 1, Germany will implement new rules prohibiting financial institutions from providing payment services to adult sites deemed to have inadequate age verification systems and making it easier for the government to target websites mirroring the content of such sites.

Jerkmate Joins Pineapple Support as Partner-Level Sponsor

Jerkmate has joined the ranks of over 70 adult businesses and organizations committing funds and resources to Pineapple Support.

Show More