[solidsnack9000]

"...at which point, one has to ask, why do it at all?"

It seems like this line of thinking would lead you to ask the same question of literally any law, wouldn't it?

Laws often don't rely on being 100%. Even though there is a law saying people need to wear a seat belt, they can just not wear it! So what's the point, &c, &c?

[Aloisius]

If you don't wear a seatbelt, you can be ticketed. Not only is enforcement practical, but it has a measurable impact on behavior.

If you use a VPN to visit a porn site to bypass age verification, you haven't broken the law as it applies to sites, not users. There will be no measurable impact on underage people visiting since the barriers to VPNs/proxies are almost nil while still costing money to enforce on non-tech savvy adults - an overall detriment to society.

Laws that are unenforceable and don't benefit society are bad laws.

[solidsnack9000]

Let me see if I understand the situation you're describing clearly. It seems like you're saying that all or most young people will be able to -- and be inclined to -- use VPNs to visit porn sites, and will do so.

They won't be able to visit porn sites in their own jurisdiction -- let us call it jurisdiction J -- because those sites have to perform age verification, but they will be able to visit porn sites in other jurisdictions, since they can send traffic that appears to originate in those jurisdictions. Those porn sites are not in J and so don't have to enforce J's rules.

When I think about this situation, though, it just seems like it would lead lawmakers to require VPN sites to perform age verification.

[solidsnack9000]

Regarding "Not only is enforcement practical...", I'm not sure enforcement is all that practical for this offense -- my understanding is that most instances of it are never caught and never charged.