Despite fundamental disagreements with the manner in which new age-verification laws are rolling out, Black Label Magazine agrees that minors should be shielded from adult content.
I want to start this announcement off by saying that I wholeheartedly disagree with the notion of age verification as it is being required by 19 states (and counting), and by several countries around the world.
I believe that free speech is free speech, and a fundamental right of every human being on Earth—whether American or not. I have, for 23 years, been in service of that fundamental right—and during that time have made many sacrifices. It amazes me that the politicians and voters that are pushing these draconian laws on website operators in the adult space originate in states that profess to be the champions of the Constitution of the United States. These same states consume the most pornography out of all the fifty (I’m looking at you, Bible Belt). Talk about hypocrisy.
Make no mistake: the war on adult content has nothing to do with protecting children. It is about manipulation of the masses, power, and control.
Also make no mistake: I do not want children accessing adult content.
But the answer is not requiring sites like mine to adopt systems that create barriers for my free expression and your ability to consume it. Ultimately, the onus should lie with parents. It is not my responsibility to make sure your child doesn’t do what they aren’t supposed to. After parental responsibility, device based age verification is the more effective and most secure method. Even the large tech companies like Facebook agree with this.
With all that being said, I must announce that Black Label Magazine will shortly be implementing age verification as required by the strictest standards and law.
Black Label Magazine will be using the age verification service provided by Yoti. I have, since this past winter, explored every possibility of this implementation and have settled on Yoti as being the best possible solution for Black Label. Yoti has the most experience, the most security, and the leanest implementation of the service. I have vetted them completely and can assure you that your personally identifiable information will not fall into the wrong hands—the data that Yoti asks for to verify your age is encrypted and segregated so that you personally cannot be identified, and neither Yoti nor Black Label will be able to see, much less divulge your information to any third party, to include the government—except for the fact that your user account belongs to a person above the age of 18. Once verification is completed, the data you provide is erased and not stored by Yoti or Black Label.
Since the implementation of age verification comes at a cost to me as the site’s operator, I am forced to place all adult content behind a paywall. I will still have limited free blog posts and teasers for new visitors to Black Label to get an idea of what’s in the Members’ Area, but from now on, all nudity and sexual content will be behind the paywall—and at that time you will be required to verify your age.
You will only be required to verify your age once when you create your member account. For those that are not yet ready to commit to a VIP membership, Black Label has rolled out the “ADMIRE” tier for a one time charge of $3.00. This will cover the implementation of age verification. The good news is that the ADMIRE tier (formerly “Black Label Baby” and later “Voyeur”) will now include more exclusive content than before. Full galleries and scenes, however, will remain exclusive to the VIP tiers.
Expect some tweaks and some changes to our implementation as we receive feedback from you, our customers. We of course welcome all of that feedback, and will do our best to make age verification as seamless as possible.
If you are already an ADMIRE or VIP Member, I expect that you will need to complete age verification on your first login after the service rolls out. After that, no further action will be required, and no additional charges will be levied against you.
Please remember: I do not want to do this. I resent that I have to implement this change. But I am powerless to do anything but comply with the law. Unfortunately, the adult industry’s lobby does not match the power of Christian Nationalists and the like that have shoved this down all of our throats.
As a preacher’s son, I am with you regarding the total hypocrisy of this mandate. The Bible Belt has such a chokehold it is sickening and many of those in that sect are the most repressed group of humans on earth (uh, hello Jimmy Swaggart and the PTL’s Jim Baker). If any group needs to be continuously called out it’s them. Having said that, I will continue to support your platform, if anything to ensure your right to serve the audience that has followed you for years.