House Bill Won't Criminalize Free Wi-Fi Operators

Velcroman98 sends word of a bill that passed the US House of Representatives by a lopsided vote of 409 to 2. It would require everyone who runs an open Wi-Fi connection to report illegal images, including "obscene" cartoons and drawings, or be fined up to $300,000. The Securing Adolescents From Exploitation-Online (SAFE) Act was rushed through the House without any hearings or committee votes, and the version that passed on a voice vote reportedly differs substantially from the last publicly available version. CNET reports that sentiment in favor of such a bill is strong in the Senate as well. Update: 12/07 06:22 GMT by Z : As clarified in an Ars writeup, this summary is a bit off-base. The bill doesn't require WiFi owners to police anything, merely 'stiffening the penalties' for those who make no effort to report obvious child pornography.

Comments

The SAFE Act is a PATRIOT Correction

[jeblucas]

...hence the lopsided vote. EFF has the insights no the rest of this bill. This is a "poison pill" amendment to the Ron Paul's of the world, but it's a small price to pay for passing the rest of this legislation.

No, abortion is natural selection.

[Lethyos]

Organisms predisposed to eliminate all their offspring will not make any contributions to the gene pool. Economic standing, race, religion, and so on do not factor in. This is why it is so incredibly stupid for people to oppose abortion: if left unchecked, the “problem” solves itself over time. In other words, if you hate abortion, it is in your best interests to let it run rampant because individuals sharing your opinion are more likely to reproduce. (But, uh-oh, you have just accepted a fundamental tenant of evolution!) The other question is: why the opposition to couples wanting to have sex but not wanting to have children? That is perfectly reasonable, especially considering some couples that abort are parents with families who do not want or need more children. Give it a rest. You anti-choice people are so confused on this matter that you cannot even form cogent, sensical arguments.

Re:No, abortion is natural selection.

[sumdumass]

One of the biggest problems I have with abortion is that the time for birth control should have happened long before an abortion is part of any plan. And without objections, how long until someone decides that you can perform an abortion outside the human body? Lets say you can kill the kid until his 5th birthday.

I know that seems extreme but it isn't far off from the current abortion as birth control argument. When you distinguish between life and fetus, one of the biggest issues is the ability to live outside the body. So if it cannot live without the host, it is a fetus. Now, imagine a newborn placed in a room with all the doors open and widows opened. It cannot defend against any threats, it cannot feed itself, it will dies unless someone takes care of it. So it has basically went from a parasite inside the body to one outside the body. At some age, it will be able to find another host so you would have to stop considering it something other then a human being that is a parasite.

I'm personally against abortions. religion doesn't factor into this position either. But I know it isn't my choice so I don't care who has one. But I do care about the point in time when life begins because it is pivotal in all other discussions about it. We have found newborn babies in dumpsters and their parents only received 2 years sentences or almost nothing when if the kid was older, they would have received a lot more punishment. There is a trend to punish mothers who kill their kids for whatever reason less depending on the age of the child. I think that s wrong too. It is much easier to say if you don't want kids, use birth control or give them up for adoption then it is to figure out when a human life begins and when it is valuable enough to receive the fullest protects of the law including the fullest punishment possible when someone kills it.

So there is my answer to your second question. It isn't just about abortions perse.