Utah adult content age barrier contested

SALT LAKE CITY — Attorneys representing adult entertainers, erotica authors and sex educators have asked a judge to put on hold a Utah law requiring porn and other adult websites to verify users’ ages.

The Free Speech Coalition and its co-plaintiffs argue the new state law violates their clients’ First Amendment rights and intrudes on the privacy of individuals who want to view sexually explicit materials.

“The Act is a poorly crafted solution to a poorly articulated problem, and the public interest is not advanced by the endurance of an overly restrictive, vague, and overbroad statute that imperils the rights of Utahans to provide and receive constitutionally-protected material over the internet,” they argue in a request to delay implementing the law that was filed in federal court Wednesday.