Utah first state to hold websites liable for users who mask their location with VPNs — law goes into effect, designed to prevent bypassing age checks
Utah's Senate Bill 73, which takes effect on May 6, 2026, makes websites liable for users who mask their location using VPNs to bypass age verification requirements. The law assumes websites can detect VPN usage and determine a user's true physical location, despite technical limitations that make this unreliable. Critics, including NordVPN and the EFF, warn the law creates compliance challenges and may harm privacy-conscious users.
- ▪Utah's Senate Bill 73 holds websites liable if users in Utah access content while masking their location with a VPN or proxy.
- ▪The law prohibits websites from providing instructions on using VPNs to bypass age verification checks.
- ▪NordVPN and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) have criticized the law, citing technical flaws and potential global overreach in age verification.
- ▪Websites cannot reliably detect all VPN traffic, especially personal tunnels like WireGuard, without deep packet inspection, which they cannot perform.
- ▪Other regions, including the UK and France, are considering similar restrictions on VPN use for age verification.
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Software Security Software VPN Utah first state to hold websites liable for users who mask their location with VPNs — law goes into effect, designed to prevent bypassing age checks News By Luke James published 3 May 2026 Senate Bill 73 holds websites liable for users who mask their location. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. (Image credit: Tom's Hardware) Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter Utah's Online Age Verification Amendments, formally Senate Bill 73, take effect on May 6, making the state the first in the U.S.
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