SALT LAKE CITY — The state of Utah is asking a federal judge to throw out a lawsuit challenging a new age-verification law.
The Free Speech Coalition, a trade group representing the adult entertainment industry, is suing Utah over the law passed this year requiring adult-oriented websites to do age verification.
The group argues the law is too onerous and violates people’s right to privacy by essentially requiring government ID to be uploaded, but the lawsuit also contends the state doesn't have the capability to verify digital IDs online.
In a new court filing, the Utah Attorney General’s office argues the law only allows for private, civil lawsuits for any violations. So the state won’t sue over any minor who accesses a porn site.
"Here, neither Defendant Anderson nor Defendant Reyes is tasked with enforcing the Act. Rather, the Act creates a private cause of action. As Plaintiffs correctly pleaded in their Complaint, 'the Act creates a private right of action by which Utah residents – and not state actors – are empowered to [enforce the Act].' The Court cannot enjoin Defendants from doing something they lack statutory authority to do in the first place, nor can the Court treat Defendants as a type of proxy stand-in for parties that might be averse to Plaintiffs in a later lawsuit," assistant Utah Attorney General David Wolf wrote.
A judge has scheduled arguments next month in the case.
As FOX 13 News first reported in May,some adult websites, including Pornhub (which happens to be one of the largest adult-content websites) have started blocking Utah IP addresses in protest of the new law.
