FROM INDIANA PUBLIC BROADCASTING

An Indiana law requiring stricter age verification for adult websites did not take affect today as scheduled.

A federal judge halted the law Friday, ruling it is likely unconstitutional.

The law says sites on which at least one-third of their images and videos are “material harmful to minors” must verify their customers’ ages with a mobile driver’s license or government I-D — which Indiana doesn’t provide — or through a third-party age verification service.

Federal Judge Richard Young says that requirement likely violates the First Amendment.

In his ruling, Young says “the Attorney General has not submitted any evidence suggesting age verification would prohibit a single minor from viewing harmful materials.”

Young says a better solution is filtering and blocking technology.

Also, Young writes that the law’s arbitrary use of the one-third standard makes it difficult for even adults to view constitutionally protected content.