Utah’s new age verification law for accessing adult content takes effect this week and explicitly targets VPN use as a way to bypass age checks. Multiple outlets report that the measure is the first in the United States to single out virtual private network traffic in the context of age verification requirements. The law aims to reduce or close perceived “loopholes” in age-checking systems that can be evaded when users route requests through VPNs or similar services.
Privacy advocates and experts cited by the outlets raise concerns about potential downstream effects. They argue that the law could be difficult to apply in practice, given how VPNs and related services operate. CNET reports that technical limitations could encourage some websites to block all VPN addresses broadly, rather than distinguishing between compliant and noncompliant traffic. Gizmodo similarly describes warnings that the policy could set an unworkable precedent for how age verification is enforced.
Overall, the sources describe the law as a significant regulatory step for age verification enforcement, while highlighting uncertainty about how it will function for users, websites, and privacy-focused services.
