NORFOLK, Va. — As of this weekend, major online pornography sites have an upgraded age verification and identification system for the state of Virginia.
Recent Google Trends data offers insight into what may be attempts by some Virginians to navigate around the newly placed barriers.
The bill, SB1515, requires adult sites to take further steps beyond entering a date of birth -- such as making users submit copies of government-issued IDs -- to access websites with pornographic content.
Over the last seven days, according to tracking through Google Trends, Virginia ranks as the highest state when it comes to searches for "VPN" or "virtual private network."
A VPN can provide additional security -- as well as concealed information like location data -- to an internet connection.
Google Trends data changes over time but Virginia's rank as the "top" state regarding VPN searches remains consistent despite the ever-changing metrics. Virginia's "top" rank for VPN searches also spans time periods of one day, seven days, and 30 days.
“What we [sometimes] see, is savvy users of the internet will go out of their way to go around those barriers. Will find tools available to them, using the internet the way they want to. It’s only natural to see when a new impediment is introduced, a solution to that problem emerging," said Myles McNutt, an associate professor at Old Dominion University who studies and teaches subjects like digital and social media trends.
While Virginia also ranks high among the country's state search data over a 5-year period for "VPN", the difference between Virginia and the second-highest state over the last seven days is consistently higher by comparison.
"Hard not to make a connection in this case, in what’s a pretty significant change," McNutt said.
The Virginia bill is similar to one recently passed in Louisiana, which requires residents to prove they are at least 18 by entering their government ID to access pornographic websites. The age verification is required by all websites containing content with 33.3% or more pornographic material. The Louisiana law requires third-party vendors to verify the age of users.
“It's a type of website people don’t want to put their information in. They don’t want it saved, they don’t want a login, they don’t want to be a part of it. So the issues around security can be leveraged by these companies," McNutt added.
Pornography website Pornhub recently announced they will pull the site from the state of Virginia entirely.
The Free Speech Coalition raised issues over VPN uses this March in a letter to Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin.