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New Internet Regulation Proposed
bumgutts writes "Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has suggested a mandatory website self-rating system. The system, very similar to one suggested under Clinton's administration, would require by law all commercial websites to place 'marks and notices' on each page containing 'sexually explicit' content, with penalty up to 5 years imprisonment." From the article: "A second new crime would threaten with imprisonment Web site operators who mislead visitors about sex with deceptive 'words or digital images' in their source code--for instance, a site that might pop up in searches for Barbie dolls or Teletubbies but actually features sexually explicit photographs. A third new crime appears to require that commercial Web sites not post sexually explicit material on their home page if it can be seen 'absent any further actions by the viewer.'"
It's not porn, it's art!
While it sounds like a decent idea, I'm really all for the whole uncensored and unregulated internet. It's more interesting to me to see what people do with the total freedom granted to them. The more stuff like this that's get passed, the closer we move to real censorship. Okay, so I know I probably sound like I just put a fresh bit of tinfoil on this morning, but I really like my internet the way it is.
"The motivation could be correct, but the implementation will suck."
That, my friend, is the definition of the USA.
the sites that still want to expose erotical/sexual content, would just move 1 inch outside the US
Hi, you must be new to American diplomacy.
Where EXACTLY in the Constitution of The United States is this authority delegated from The People or The States to The Damned Feds?
Technology -- No Place For Wimps! Grateful Dead and Jerry Garcia Chatroom -- http://www.wemissjerry.org
WTF is a "home page" and who decides what page is the "home page"? Heres my 1000 pages of whatever and one page that says "click here to enter".
.xxx domain name. Don't want XXX? filter it out.
//rant
If the proposed bill is anything like the description in the article, then it shows that the drafters of said bill have no fucking idea what they are doing or what the internet is but rather view a "site" as something like a teevee channel. If they actually gave a shit about the content that young children are exposed to, then they would push for a
"I hope that Congress will take up this legislation promptly," said Gonzales, who gave a speech about child exploitation and the Internet to the federally funded National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The proposed law is called the Child Pornography and Obscenity Prevention Amendments of 2006.
Guess what. We allready have laws about child exploitation and child pornography. Drop the red herring, stop the sensational bullshit, and work on the problem in a rational manner.