On a fateful Saturday in Houston, Texas, the scorching sun reached its zenith. On the heels of a hellish week where residents suffered under the weight of triple-digit temperatures, Joseph Roy Ozment reached his boiling point with the oppressive yoke of the state. Legislators under the banner of the “evil” Governor Greg Abbott had caged his precious anime. Once again lacking the proper verification for his viewing pleasure, Ozment, with righteous fury, phoned the Governor’s office. Unbeknownst to him, tyranny takes Saturdays off, and the building was closed for the weekend.
Felonious Behavior
Perspective is a bitch. Bellowing in anger, Ozment aired his grievances to the answering machine of an empty office. All in a desperate bid to “unlock” his “fucking anime.” State officials were in for a disturbing treat come Monday morning. The employee who stumbled upon the irate recording immediately reported it to the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), later claiming they feared for their life and the lives of their co-workers. A DPS affidavit detailed the exact contents of the voicemail. In a rage directed at the Governor’s office, Ozment screamed,
“I don’t know which one of you sons of bitches passed this motherfucking bill to get this damn shit blocking my motherfucking anime, but you whole-ass motherfuckers need to un-pass this shit!” Between bursts of profanity, he argued that his Google account was “over the age of 18.”
Then came the final threat: “I’m a fucking stab every goddamn one of you bitches if someone doesn’t unlock my fucking anime.” Given that kind of vitriol, DHS officials took the threat seriously, treating it as a legitimate attempt to coerce state legislation through terror.
Crime and Punishment
Joseph Roy Ozment was officially charged with one count of making a terroristic threat against a public servant. This offense is a third-degree felony, resulting in a possible prison sentence of 2 to 10 years and a fine of up to $10,000. In his rant, Ozment mentions that his Google account is “over the age of 18.” Nowhere in Texas law does the state prohibit viewing anime, nor is there a specific age requirement to access it. KXAN, a local news affiliate in Austin, double-checked its accessibility. Major anime distributors like Crunchyroll and HIDIVE could all be accessed normally within the state. The crux of this whole ordeal seems to center around two recent Texas state laws.
House Bill 1181
Back in 2023, the Texas State Legislature passed HB 1181, a bill targeting platforms hosting adult content to make it harder for minors to access these sites. The law dictates that any commercial website whose content is more than one-third (33%) “sexual material harmful to minors” must strictly verify traffic. This does away with simple ‘Over 18’ button prompts and forces anyone viewing the site to formally verify their age. While uploading a digital or State ID is a common approach used by platforms, the bill allows any commercially reasonable verification method.
The law is quite divisive. Many people agree with tighter restrictions for minors but object to the privacy risks of digital verification. To this end, sites are legally required to protect and immediately delete scanned verification data. However, with the stark reality of data leaks, many users worry about actual data security. When the bill took effect, several major adult sites pulled coverage in Texas. An industry trade group, the Free Speech Coalition, challenged the law on First Amendment grounds. The legal battle went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ultimately upheld the Texas law as constitutional.
App Store Accountability
The final bill, Senate Bill 2420, affects app store purchases on platforms such as Google Play and the Apple App Store. The bill restricts the downloading and sale of content to minors. When an individual under the age of 18 attempts to download or purchase content, a parent’s or guardian’s verification is required. Blanket permission is prohibited. In other words, each verification must be done on a one-to-one basis, and the adult’s account must be linked to the minor’s. The storefronts themselves are responsible for vetting and separating content into respective age tiers. They are held legally responsible for providing accurate metrics and being transparent about data collection. Like the previous bill, HB 1181, all personal data collected by site verification is meant to be discarded upon approval. Locals have about as much faith in this practice as they do in HB 1181.
Potato, ‘Porn’tato
Joseph Ozment’s insistence that his Google account was over 18 doesn’t make a lot of sense. SB 2420 would not affect his efforts to download an app to stream anime. HB 1181, however, is another can of worms. Outside the standard purview of Google age verification, a site hosting adult content would lock Ozment out if he couldn’t provide a sufficient form of identification to verify his age. Consequently, we’re not going to judge or presume what exactly Ozment was attempting to watch. However, in the world of Japanese animation, there’s a fine line between anime and “hentai.”
Stay tuned to Nerdbot for more on the Ozment case. As always, we have you covered on all your pop culture needs. Assuming, of course, that those needs aren’t adult-oriented and need ID verification.
