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Utah Considers Forcing ISPs to Filter Content

tipsymonkey writes "Cnet is running an article on how the Utah governor is considering signing a law that forces ISPs to filter content deemed harmful to minors. This would apply to large scale ISPs like AOL as well. They have until March 22 to decide whether or not to sign this into law."

10 of 508 comments (clear)

  1. Matter of choice by consumer by timgoh0 · · Score: 5, Informative

    The proposal , "S.B.260, says: "Upon request by a consumer, a service provider may not transmit material from a content provider site listed on the adult content registry.""

    Content filtering in this case is not forced, but a choice by the consumer

    This is similar to the content filter that my local ISPs in .sg offer.

  2. Re:FCC ? by slAckEr+Of+dOOm · · Score: 4, Informative

    The states are allowed to impose stricter regulations than the federal ones. They can censor even more than the government does, but not less.

  3. Oh puhleeze by tensai · · Score: 5, Informative

    If you read the article you'll see that the proposed law only requires ISPs to provide a way for customers to opt-in to a filtering scheme. It does not require them to filter every packet. I don't think the bill is worth the time, but let's at least evaluate it for its real faults and merits, not some sensationalized bunch of baloney.

    In the end, I doubt this law would do much. ISPs are being asked by their customers to provide content filtering. $$$ is a much more effective motivator than laws. And those who don't want to spend the money to implement it, don't have to but also will lose customers to those who do. Sounds fair to me.

  4. C'mon, folks. by Sheetrock · · Score: 2, Informative
    From the article: Internet providers in Utah must offer their customers a way to disable access to sites on the list or face felony charges.

    This is a far cry from censorship. It's more like the V-Chip we all have to pay for in new televisions. It gives parents the ability to better control the content their children consume and we would all be better off to have such a thing implemented in our ISPs.

    Better yet to separate .porn as a domain so that those who want it can find it yet those who don't can block it simply.

    --

    Try not. Do or do not, there is no try.
    -- Dr. Spock, stardate 2822-3.




  5. Re:Let's do it the other way around... by jonaric · · Score: 2, Informative

    Yes ... Ebay, Overstock.com, and many others would quietly disappear into the ether...

  6. Re:Crazy Utah by Bri3D · · Score: 2, Informative

    That was the US and the Children's Internet Protection Act, which still exists in a watered-down form. The act originally required offensive and or porn sites to post a warning and require you to agree you were over 18 before you could enter. I think it was actually made law before the Supreme Court struck down the idiodic part. BTW this passed during the Clinton administration so it's not always the conservatives(this time it is though, there are about 6 liberals in Utah).

  7. Re:Utah.... by swiftstream · · Score: 3, Informative

    Mormons have not practiced polygamy since at least 1896. You are a hundred years behind the times.

    There are a few breakoff groups that do, but they have no affiliation with the LDS church, which practicing polygamy is sufficient to get one excommunicated from.

    --
    Be a PATRIOT--because the only thing we have to fear is the lack thereof.
  8. Re:I've always though this was backwards by prichardson · · Score: 2, Informative

    Apple did this a while back. It was called 'KidSafe.' People could submit sites for approval and, as far as I know, it had a huge whitelist. I think that all you did was change your DNS servers to some that Apple had and it would check the domain against its list.

    It was a huge flop.

    --
    Help I'm a rock.
  9. Re:One possible solution by MightyMartian · · Score: 2, Informative
    BTW, what *did* Jefferson believe? I don't recall anything about that from my gleefully-dirt-digging high school US-history teacher (if she'd known, she would have told us!)

    Jefferson was a Deist, and as such, didn't believe in a personal god, but rather Nature's god. Here's some revealing quotes which would, I suspect, disqualify Jefferson in the eye of many a red state voter:

    "The Christian god can easily be pictured as virtually the same god as the many ancient gods of past civilizations. The Christian god is a three headed monster; cruel, vengeful and capricious. If one wishes to know more of this raging, three headed beast-like god, one only needs to look at the caliber of people who say they serve him. They are always of two classes: fools and hypocrites."

    ""Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined and imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity."

    --
    The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
  10. Re:Crazy Utah by MightyMartian · · Score: 3, Informative
    Plainly put, abortion IS MURDER. What else do you call killing another living being?

    I don't accept that a fetus is a living being, any more than I would categorize a tumor as another living being. I mean, do you think that HeLa cells are human beings?

    http://bioresearch.ac.uk/browse/mesh/D006367.html

    I mean, what is your definition of a human being? Does it need a brain? How many chromosones does it need? Is a sperm cell a human being?

    --
    The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.