DW will be temporarily unavailable in Mississippi (and account signups restricted in Tennessee)
Aug. 31st, 2025 09:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
silveradeptBecause the state of Mississippi has no idea what protecting children online actually entails, and are instead hoping that queer content will simply disappear off the Internet so they don't have to see it, but are threatening fines of $10,000 USD for each time a minor accesses something the state considers age-restricted, which goes far beyond the official and still-in-force Miller test for obscenity, Dreamwidth will be temporarily unavailable in the State of Mississippi starting September 1, 2025, and lasting until the State of Mississippi is injuncted against enforcing their overbroad and unsafe law. Because the state requires not only age verification of minors, but permission slips obtained and then all of that identifying information and documentation to be retained, along with special flags set for minor accounts that will make it obvious to a casual profile viewer that they're looking at a minor account (and therefore a possibly very juicy target), Bluesky has decided they are blocking Mississippi from using their service until Mississippi can be told that their law is overbroad, unconstitutional, and does the opposite of what they want it to do. The reason that this is happening in the first place is because despite at least one Justice saying outright that the challenge to the law was likely to succeed on the merits, the Supereme Court of the United States allowed it to go into effect because the conservative majority (or Justice I-Like-Beer-and-Boobies himself) said that the plaintiffs hadn't demonstrated sufficiently that they would be hurt by the law. Which sounds much more like an encouragement to Mississippi and others to pass these laws, even if they are eventually shut down, than someone taking into account the likelihood that the law will be judged unconstitutional and permitting preliminary injunctions to stay in effect while the case is argued, so that the state doesn't get the opportunity to try and collect its fines.
( Federation, Professional Experience, and What Can Be Done )
It also turns out that Tennessee passed a similar, if less draconian, law, and therefore Tennesseans under 18 will be temporarily barred from registering accounts on Dreamwidth until their law can be thrown out, because, in a similar way, people decided that while the law was likely to be axed, somehow there wasn't sufficient showing of injury to injunct the law immediately, so instead it gets to cause damage until rendered moot. So this particular conflict has to be fought on multiple fronts, in places passing laws and in places trying to pass them. Having seen the damage that happens when those places are allowed to pass laws, if your locality hasn't done it yet, it may be worth telling them what political ramifications await them if they do.
( Federation, Professional Experience, and What Can Be Done )
It also turns out that Tennessee passed a similar, if less draconian, law, and therefore Tennesseans under 18 will be temporarily barred from registering accounts on Dreamwidth until their law can be thrown out, because, in a similar way, people decided that while the law was likely to be axed, somehow there wasn't sufficient showing of injury to injunct the law immediately, so instead it gets to cause damage until rendered moot. So this particular conflict has to be fought on multiple fronts, in places passing laws and in places trying to pass them. Having seen the damage that happens when those places are allowed to pass laws, if your locality hasn't done it yet, it may be worth telling them what political ramifications await them if they do.
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