Porn sites blocked California users today to protest proposed law
Proposition 60 on the state ballot mandates condom use, which the adult industry sees as a litigation minefield.
Several porn websites have a new tactic to alert their electorate living in California: Blocking them. On the ballot next month is proposition 60, which would require adult performers to use condoms for all videos made in the state. If they don't, the law would allow any citizen in the state to sue producers and distributors of prophylactic-lacking porn. In protest, popular sites Vivid, Evil Angel and Kink, among others, have pop-ups urging visitors with California IP addresses to vote 'no' on the proposition come election day. If it passes, some are considering blocking those users entirely to protect themselves from litigation.
Prop 60 is sponsored by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation and operates much like Los Angeles' Measure B initiative passed in 2012, but would apply to the entire state. The adult industry is broadly opposed to it on the grounds that it restricts performer choice and the lawsuit threats will push some productions underground, resulting in worse conditions. Further, they argue it would expose studios and actors/actresses to harassment by stalkers, trolls and anti-porn activists.
Vivid, Evil Angel and Kink have interrupted or outright blocked users with California IP addresses all day today, but if prop 60 becomes law, they could ban those visitors entirely. Whether that would actually protect the studios, producers and performers from lawsuits is uncertain, but it could logically lower the chance that a viewer within the state would see content that violated the statute.
