February 16, 2026

Security & the News:  Age Verification, VPNs, & WI Senate Bill 130

The Wisconsin State Senate will likely soon vote on SB130, a bill which imposes civil penalties on websites that host content that is “harmful to minors” if they don’t (1) implement age verification or (2) block users using VPNs. The bill was recently passed with bi-partisan support in the WI State Assembly. We will present a (neutral as we can be) overview of the bill text, its history, and similar laws, and then we will open the floor to discussion about technical implementation and tradeoffs between free expression, privacy, and abuse prevention.