Slashdot Mirror
ACLU to Challenge Utah Porn-Blocking Law
delirium of disorder writes "Opponents of a Utah law that requires Internet service providers to offer to block Web sites deemed pornographic filed a lawsuit last Thursday to overturn the measure. The American Civil Liberties Union of Utah is seeking an injunction in federal court in Salt Lake City as part of its lawsuit claiming that the Utah law violates state residents' rights to free expression and unlawfully interferes with interstate commerce. The legislation requires the attorney general to create an official list of Web sites with material that is deemed harmful to minors. Under the law, Internet providers in Utah must provide their customers with a way to disable access to sites on the list or face felony charges."
What is the big deal? Just compile the official list into a hosts file with all addresses set to 127.0.0.1 and make it available on your web site for download. That is about 30 minutes of work and then you comply with the damn law and can get on with your business. It isn't worth arguing about this crap.
Oh well, what the hell...
I think a lot of people have become disenthralled with the ACLU ever since they seem to have adopted "freedom from religion" as a civil right. This is beyond historical precedent and rather controversial. Also, for some reason, they seem loathe to defend free speech against administrative punishments and civil litigation.
If you don't know where you are going, you will wind up somewhere else.
So yeah I have already seen about 6 posts looking something like, "those crazy right wing nut jobs want to stop the righteous and omniscient ACLU from protecting my civil liberties!" Seems to be the trend on /. recently, which makes it less interesting for me to read.
However, despite whether you may think this is a left vs right issue or whatever, I find it highly disturbing that the more liberal groups continue their attempts to strip the rights of states to have their own laws, especially in a representative government.
The problem I really have here is that while all you pro-ACLU people continue to scream about the ACLU protecting my right to free speech, it seems that the ACLU is restricting the right of the people of Utah (in this case) to elect a government which is representative of their ideals and beliefs.
Remember, our representatives are put into their positions in order to act on our behalf. Who is to say the people of Utah do not want this law? Maybe they do. If they do not, they could elect individuals who would overturn said law.
Now I don't necessarily agree with this law and I don't necessarily dislike the ACLU, but this rabid attack on how the "right" is bad and the "left" is good is really starting to get simply immature and sickening.
Also, for some reason, they seem loathe to defend free speech against administrative punishments and civil litigation.
I don't understand. And before you flame me for being stupid, try to educate me. And if I still disagree, please feel free to flame away!
To the un-initiated it may seem counter-intuitive, but the amount of sex a man has is generally inversely proportionate to the number of wives he has. If you don't belive me, get married.
You might also want to note that "polygamous or plural marriages" are expressly forbidden by the Utah state constitution.
-Peter
So really, what is the law good for? Nothing, except appealing to the base.
It'll be effective at something, just not it's stated intentions. It'll cause repercussions that aren't thought of.I just found out first hand how these laws can cause trouble. I set up a forum, one mostly about anime and manga. Now there is quite a vast age range of anime and manga fans, so it's not unlikely I'll end up with users under 13 as well as those above 13. 13's the magic age in COPPA, an act designed to protect children from having information gathered on them. I used PhpBB which has built-in COPPA handling, and went to research what I had to do on my end to allow those under 13 to use the site and be COPPA compliant.
Well that didn't last long, I'd have to provide a physical address, phone number, fax number, etc. for parents to send in COPPA documents for their children. All this and all the info I'd be gathering is their E-mail address (used for registration confirmation). I don't even require a real name, just the nickname they want to use.
So what was the result of this law to protect children in my case? They're banned. If they chose the link "I'm under 13 and want to register" they get a polite message telling them they can't sign up and are redirected to disney.com. I guess you could argue they're protected, after all they can't participate in the forum, but all it's really going to do is cause the kids to try again later and lie about their age. That's assuming they tell the truth in the first place.
Maybe it appeals to their base, but all it's really good for is causing problems for others, and rarely if ever actually helps the problem it's supposedly solving.
However, they are up against a very steep wall of not being able to find a majority voice to contend with Utah's propensity to legislate their moral values
It doesn't matter if the ACLU does not find a majority voice, they're using the court system to contest the law. They only need a handful of justices to defeat Utah's propensity to legislate their moral values.
-py
They can give the M$ uses a hosts file with the AG's list in it. Bam! those sites do not come up. This is only at the CUSTOMER'S request. It does not remove Pr0n from those who want it. The ACLU is showing how far into hell they are going looking for clients.
Non-disclaimer: I'm a BYU student.
BYU doesn't offer a theology degree. *Every* student is required to take religion courses, since the church doesn't have professional clergy it would be redundant.
Exactly right.
To officially teach religion you need either a BS or MS (can't remember which) in something - doesn't matter what. (Yes! Even biology! Just to head that off...) To teach religion at a Church-run university you need a PhD. I have a friend who is getting a PhD in CS just so he can teach religion at BYU.
(No, it's not strange. He happens to be very good at both but finds ancient languages more interesting.)
I got my Linux laptop at System76.