Protect The Children AND Destroy Open WiFi – Rock on, Congress!

December 7th, 2007

And of course everyone’s got to be all “Ron Paul didn’t vote for it!” and then beam proudly like the huge simplistic children they are. Saying he didn’t vote for something is hardly exciting or novel. After all, what the hell is Ron Paul actually FOR?*

Techdirt: Congress Rushes Through Law To Protect The Children… And Make Open WiFi A Huge Liability

So what’s so awful about the law? Well, like most “protect the children” legislation, it goes way overboard in terms of what people are expected to do, and like most legislation having to do with technology, seems utterly clueless about how technology works.

The bill would require anyone providing an “electronic communication service” or a “remote computing service” to record and report information any time they “learn” that their network was used for certain broadly defined illegal activities concerning obscene images.

…Glenn Fleishman describes what the law could mean in practice, points out that anyone who runs an open WiFi network for the public is now basically required to snitch on anyone they think may be doing anything deemed “illegal” in this act, including viewing or transmitting certain obscene drawings, cartoons, sculptures, or paintings.

…Even worse, part of the snitching is that beyond sending a report and the images to the gov’t, you’re supposed to retain the “illegal” image yourself — which would seem to open you up to charges of possession as well if you somehow screw up (if you follow everything exactly to the letter of the law, you are granted immunity).

*except using my uterus for his breeding program? I am tired of being pre-pregnant, FWIW. Can I just be non-pregnant for awhile?

Mood : dizzy in my head