Rhode Island Bill Would Filter Porn, Charge $20 Fee to Bypass
Rhode Island is proposing new legislation that would require that ISPs ban all porn. Not only that, the proposal would require that anybody interested in viewing porn pay a $20 fee per internet-connected device to access it. The legislation in question (pdf), first spotted by The Hill, would require internet service providers block sexual content or other "patently offensive material." ISPs that refused to participate in the system would be fined by the state. Funds raised from the fees would be collected quarterly by the state and used to fund the state’s council on human trafficking.
But the bill's claim to be about stopping human trafficking appears to be little more than a ploy designed to sell the ban on porn.
This legislation is just one of a massive trove of similar bills that have been introduced in several states, none of which have actually been implemented. Some variations of the bills, like the one introduced in South Carolina, attempt to fine any device manufacturer or retailer that sells a device "without a digital blocking system installed."
According to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, similar legislation is being pushed in more than fifteen states. And the guy who is pushing for the bills has a checkered history readers might find interesting.
The EFF is also quick to highlight how such porn filtering efforts would not only be technically impossible, it would likely (as is often the case with such filters) result in the filtering of legitimate websites.
"The technical requirements for this kind of aggressive platform censorship at scale are simply unworkable," the EFF notes. "If the attempts of social media sites to censor pornographic images are any indication, we cannot count on algorithms to distinguish, for example, nude art from medical information from pornography. Facing risk of legal liability, companies would likely over-censor and sweep up legal content in their censorship net."
"Legislators should continue to do the right thing: uphold the Constitution, protect consumers, and not use the real problem of human trafficking as an excuse to deprive users of their privacy and free speech," the EFF said.
Most legislatures appear to realize these bills are sloppy, unworkable, threaten free speech, and are being pushed by somebody who shouldn't be writing party invites, much less state law. But it's astonishing how much traction the bills have seen in numerous states all the same.
http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Rhode-Island-Bill-Would-Filter-Porn-Charge-20-Fee-to-Bypass-141373
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