Connecticut Wants to Restrict Social Networking

csefft writes "According to the Hartford Courant, Connecticut became the latest state to want to restrict the use of MySpace and other social networking sites. The proposed bill would require that all such sites verify the identity and age of users, as well as get parent's permission for those under 18. Sites that failed to comply would be subject to a $5,000 per day fine. Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said of the proposition, 'If we can put a man on the moon, we can verify age on the Internet,' but quickly followed with the acknowledgment that there is no foolproof method."

Comments

Anyone miss the 20's?

[xx01dk]

Sure, no better way to stop people from wanting something is prohibiting it.

Wait a sec...

Re:Anyone miss the 20's?

[alx5000]

If we can put a man on the moon...

• ... we can build cars that drive themselves.
• ... teletransportation doesn't seem so difficult to develop.
• ... we can make those autodriving cars fly.
• ... we can deploy safe cold fusion in your living room.
• ... cancer's cure will be announced in a matter of minutes (by a non-Iranian country)
• ... etc

That argument is the most stupid one I've heard in ages. Someone please establish a connection between NASA getting someone to the Moon and MySpace verifying users' authenticy*. I'm really curious.

* What really creeps me out is that someone WILL find one and be modded both funny and insightful.

Re:Anyone miss the 20's?

[bigdavesmith]

On the moon, we could construct a special government base with massive telescopes aimed at the earth. Whenever someone tries to activate an account on myspace, this special moon-base is notified, and using the giant telescopes, we look at the person, and verify their age. This could a step where you hold your drivers license up towards the sky, or out the window.

Lawmakers in Connecticut are absolutely gienus for developing this new age verification method based on space travel. I'm going to move there now.

oh geez.....

[tx_kanuck]

We can put a man on the moon, so we can verify ages on the Internet? Yes, that makes a great logical leap there. We can build a car, that doesn't mean we can create skynet.

Why don't we also require some sort of age verification before anyone can call 1-900 numbers? There is no verification for that, and yet it's accessible to minors. OMG!!! Won't someone think of the children??

Oh wait, it's to stop older men from hurting younger women. I guess that means that someone is, just not the parents. Seriously, where does parental responsibility start these days?

If it moves regulate it.

[k1e0x]

Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it. -- Ronald Regan, February 4, 1986

so true..

Rep [r]: Whats this MySpace thing Bob?
Rep [d]: I dont know but its unregulated so it must be illegal. ... Free nation ehh.. where?

And one thing has to do with the other... how?

[Stormwatch]

If we can put a man on the moon, we can verify age on the Internet.

Congratulations, mr. Blumenthal. You are now a honorary member of the American Non Sequitur Society. Your membership card is on its way. Which, of course, brings the question: what's your favorite pizza topping?

Lazy parents.

[NumSlashZero]

There's enough of this "think of the children" crap when the majority of it could easily be solved by parents actually monitoring their children instead of relying on technology and things such as this. It's simple. All of these MySpace lawsuits and whatnot are complete bull, because every one of them could have been avoided if the parents actually paid attention to what their children were doing.

Re:Lazy parents.

[thrawn_aj]

Mod parent +1 (did I say that right? sorta new to this lingo =D). But to get back on topic, that is precisely where the responsibility lies. The Amish solved the problem nicely (although a bit extreme but that's just my opinion ;)). A slashdotter's signature I saw a few days ago was a quote by Heinlein about censorship. The same applies here; to paraphrase an old (East) Indian folktale - it's rather silly to install carpets in the entire kingdom; just wear a pair of shoes :P.

Conclusion: American politicians and american parents need to learn the philosphy of wearing shoes =D.

If we can put a man on the moon...

[poptones]

WTF don't we just send all the politicians there?

It's easy!

[PIPBoy3000]

We just have age verified via a webcam, typically by viewing the secondary sex characteristics that come with puberty. Other visitors to the site can rate the newbie as "MILF", "jailbait", or "hot coed". Obviously the jailbait applicants can't actually "register", but will instead have their images archived off as counterexamples to future applicants.

Information for tracking the bill

[phiz187]

I contacted Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal's office and was advised that the initiative is being handled by the General Law Committee. I contacted their office on 09 March 2007 and was informed that the proposed legislation would likely be attatched to House Bill #6981
-PHiZ