Some adult store owners are seeing this as a sign to bring back their DVD sections.
After PornHub’s decision to ban Idaho residents went into effect last month, a Boise staple that rents X-rated videos has seen an upsurge in foot traffic. Founded in 1975, the Over 19 Adult Shop also provides customers with private video booths where they can scroll through hundreds of video options at their leisure.
Over 19 Adult Shop’s retro appeal
Each of the store’s 19 video booths is fitted with a 20-inch flat-screen monitor. A smaller screen to the right scrolls through the shop’s video collection four movies at a time, offering customers a sneak peek at their options. With just the click of a button, any of the previewed videos can be played on the main screen. For a price of $1 per six minutes, it’s a bargain compared to what online streaming services provide for an ad-free experience.
Even more intriguing, Over 19 Adult Shop’s booths can be converted into “buddy booths” by activating a translucent glass between them. This allows customers to watch videos with a friend or partner in a safe, secure environment. While this may all sound prehistoric to some, older generations who can’t access porn websites are returning to their roots and utilizing the few remaining adult shops offering video rentals and booths.
PornHub’s ban reaches a dozen states
Idaho is just one of the most recent US states to lose access to PornHub, added to a list that includes Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, Indiana, Kansas, Virginia, Utah, Kentucky and Nebraska. The decision was made by PornHub’s parent company Aylo in response to age verification laws that have quickly spread over conservative-leaning states these past few months. The ban applies to all Aylo adult brands, including Reality Kings, YouPorn and RedTube.
These new state laws place the burden of responsibility on content providers, forcing many porn sites to pay for third-party age verification software that would require users to provide a government issue ID before they can access any adult content. A representative for Aylo told the Indiana Capital Chronicle that while the company supports age verification on adult websites, the current laws are “ineffective” and “dangerous.”
Aylo’s sentiments are based on experience after witnessing what happened when they implemented an ID-based age verification system on their site for Louisiana residents last year.
“Our traffic in Louisiana dropped approximately 80%,” the representative explained. “These people did not stop looking for porn. They just migrated to darker corners of the internet that don’t ask users to verify age, that don’t follow the law, that don’t take user safety seriously, and that often don’t even moderate content. In practice, the laws have just made the internet more dangerous for adults and children.”
Aylo has since advocated for “device-based” age verification and parental controls, which would help avoid these issues as well as others raised by critics, such as identity theft and fear of surveillance. Additionally, they’ve joined forces with a group called the Free Speech Coalition to sue Indiana for infringing on the First Amendment.
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