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Residents of the US state of Virginia may soon have to pay a fee to visit any adult website.

The state government is proposing a payment of $20 (£14) to visit XXX sites. According to the lawmakers behind the sin tax, making adult content less accessible would help reduce human trafficking.

"If people want to view pornography, that's their prerogative," Virginia's Terrie Foss said, according to KTVB7. "But by having it free, it makes it too tempting for other people on the web to have access that can be influenced in a negative way."

The proposed laws fall under the Virginia House Bill 1592, the Human Trafficking Prevention Act. It has not been confirmed when a vote will be taken and it is unclear how regularly the $20 fee would have to be paid.

Virginia resident Grace Owens hit out at what she regarded as an intrusion on her personal liberty. "I just don't see the relevance at all," Owens said. "I think that's a freedom we all have as Americans."

In the UK, changes to the Digital Economy Act revealed that websites such as Pornhub would soon have to confirm a user's age before allowing him or her on to the site.

From April, websites could face fines of up to £250,000 if under-18s in the UK can access porn streams. The changes were designed to protect children from potentially damaging material, the government says.

A system called AgeID, managed by PornHub parent company MindGeek, is likely to be a dominant player in the verification process. With it, users will have to create an account and prove their age via a third party service. Details will be taken from a legitimate passport, credit card or smartphone.

As a result, the company will be collecting users' names, addresses, dates of birth and recording online browsing activities. MindGeek recently told Sky News that it was expecting up to 25 million users from the UK to sign up.