Lawmakers Want to Fund the Border Wall by Making People Pay to View Internet Porn

 Arizona lawmakers want to hide internet porn behind a paywall in an  attempt to raise funds for building a portion of the proposed wall along  the United States’ southern border with Mexico. 

A bill introduced by  Arizona State Rep. Gail Griffin would require internet users in her  state to pay a fee before gaining access to “obscene content.” House Bill 2444  proposes that the state government impose strict regulations on  internet service providers, forcing them to put blockers on all porn  sites which can only be removed after a fee is paid.

It is not clear exactly how much the government would charge for the  “privilege” of watching porn, but the bill did specify that the fee  would be a minimum of $20. The revenue collected from this potential  scheme would go to fund a number of different projects, including the  proposed border wall between Arizona and Mexico. As with other puritanical efforts to criminalize sex work and  regulate pornography, lawmakers claim that this is simply a measure to  prevent human trafficking.

 In addition to funding the border wall, the bill promises to create a fund that would “provide  grants to government agencies and private entities that work to uphold  community standards of decency for the purpose of strengthening families  and developing, expanding or strengthening programs for victims of sex  offenses.” The proposed law isn’t as far-fetched as many people think. 

A similar  law has already been passed in the United Kingdom, forcing all UK  citizens to register with the government before accessing online porn. 

 Similar efforts are also underway in the U.S. states of Virginia, Kentucky, Alabama, Utah, Rhode Island and South Carolina. The Arizona bill, however, is the only one that mentions anything about funding a border wall with the profits. Motherboard  reported that this is a coordinated effort organized by anti-porn  lobbyist Chris Sevier. It is not clear if Sevier is behind Arizona’s new  bill, but he is admittedly behind many of the efforts to regulate porn  in other states.

“Sometimes states start with putting a spin on it, I’m working on so many versions it’s ridiculous,” Sevier said. Sevier’s work is so extreme that it is controversial among some other  puritans. 

Last year, the anti-porn group, National Center on Sexual  Exploitation, issued a statement distancing themselves from the lobbyist  and demanding that he stop using their organization to legitimize his  work. According to the AZMirror, at least 18 states have seen some form of Sevier’s bill appear, all of which have been shot down. If a law does happen to pass that blocks adult sites, consumers can  mask their locations and access the sites anonymously by using a Virtual  Private Network (VPN).

 In fact, VPN’s are a good choice for anyone  wanting to browse the web anonymously and access websites that may be  hidden behind a firewall.

It is estimated that 28,258 users are accessing porn via the internet every single second. Last week, The Mind Unleashed reported  that web traffic to PornHub saw a sharp increase during the government  shutdown. While porn is one of the most popular forms of media in the  world, it remains forced to the fringes of our culture.