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Lawmakers Want to Block Pornography at the Expense of Free Speech and Privacy

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Re: Lawmakers Want to Block Pornography at the Expense of Free Speech and Privacy

#31

Post by deathanatos »

rgbrenner wrote: post #22
saagarjha wrote: post #8

> Those filters could only be removed if consumers pay a $20 fee. Wait, what? Why should a fee to opt out exist?

Read their faq... this question and the one after it: http://humantraffickingpreventionact.com/#q2 They encourage retailers and manufacturers to charge more than the $20 and pocket the difference. They are marketing the bill as pro-business.

The writing and grammar on that site is terrible, but the double-entendre on that question takes the cake:

> the retailers can set the amount to be what it feels the market can bare.

I'm hoping that wasn't intentional.

Re: Lawmakers Want to Block Pornography at the Expense of Free Speech and Privacy

#32

Post by jordan801 »

saagarjha wrote: post #8

> Those filters could only be removed if consumers pay a $20 fee. Wait, what? Why should a fee to opt out exist?

Because they don't care about the moral and psychological aspects of the content filtered. They care about making money and they know that people will buy the opt out.

Re: Lawmakers Want to Block Pornography at the Expense of Free Speech and Privacy

#33

Post by ball_of_lint »

russdill wrote: post #21
xorxarle wrote: post #14

Surely this just isn't even practical, even if it does pass... if the filter has to be installed on the end user device it will be widely known how to bypass it. Why do people even write these rediculous things (the bills in question).

Don't forget that most new phones have locked bootloaders and cryptographically secure boot processes. If lawmakers required manufactures put a piece of software on every phone, it would be technically possible and very difficult to bypass.

What about phones that have already been bought? You can easily get a phone today that runs an open source OS and boatloader: As bad as this bill may be, I doubt they could justify confiscating all of them, but short of that there is no way to enforce that law.

Similarly with computers - with a law like this in place Linux cannot exist.

Re: Lawmakers Want to Block Pornography at the Expense of Free Speech and Privacy

#34

Post by ball_of_lint »

4ad wrote: post #4
nickpeterson wrote: post #3

Apple could basically choose to ignore this law if it passed and these state governments would reveal they have no actual power in the globalized world. Oops

Why would Apple do such a thing? Presumably there would be fines if they didn't comply. If everybody is doing it (which is just Google and Apple, really), nobody gains or loses and advantage, so why would they care?

Apple has a large part of their reputation built on security and privacy, neither of which is at all possible with arbitrary government censorship software baked into every device.

Re: Lawmakers Want to Block Pornography at the Expense of Free Speech and Privacy

#35

Post by CamperBob2 »

bogomipz wrote: post #23

It's worth notice that many of these same states[1] mentioned in the article lack any interest in enacting an assault weapons ban to protect their citizens from deadly violence. [1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2017/national/assaul...

No, it isn't. Trading one civil liberty for another is a negative-sum game.

Re: Lawmakers Want to Block Pornography at the Expense of Free Speech and Privacy

#36

Post by EggsOnToast »

userbinator wrote: post #11

Device manufacturers would be forced to install "obscenity filters" on cell phones, tablets, computers, and any other Internet-connected devices. I vaguely remember reading about a similar effort in China many years ago --- that failed silently. Trying to tie this into "human trafficking" is a cruel diversion, just like pornography, terrorism, and drugs. "Let's make the world safer" seems to be the common thread in a…

>Trying to tie this into "human trafficking" is a cruel diversion, just like pornography, terrorism, and drugs.

More than that, it's downright frustrating. Human trafficking is a very real problem in America. It's not even just a problem that applies to illegal Asian or Latin American immigrants either (which might sound like a strange distinction but I've met people with this view). Teens are immensely vulnerable as well and it's ridiculous that something this serious is being used as just another tool in the war on pornography that some groups have been waging for decades.

Re: Lawmakers Want to Block Pornography at the Expense of Free Speech and Privacy

#37

Post by justonepost »

A better way would be to require all browser makers or OS makers add an easy to use child protection filter that can be easily enabled by parents.

This is a serious issue and while the OP bill is obvious censorship, all parents want more easy control.

Re: Lawmakers Want to Block Pornography at the Expense of Free Speech and Privacy

#38

Post by dang »

brianwawok wrote: post #13
saagarjha wrote: post #8

> Those filters could only be removed if consumers pay a $20 fee. Wait, what? Why should a fee to opt out exist?

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Not here, please.
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