THE former colony of Virgina, which revolted against British rule so its denizens could be 'free', has just passed a law ordering its citizens with wi-fi to monitor the web or face a fine. The US House of Representatives has approved a bill that demands that anyone who has an open wi-fi connection to the public must tell the police about any illegal child porn, or "obscene" cartoons and drawings. If they do not monitor the content, or allow material to be stored, they will be fined $300,000.
The shanghaied spooks will be anyone who provides Wi-Fi for customers or even left their wi-fi connection open for war chalkers to use.
If you own a wi-fi connection you are required to store the contents of users' accounts for the coppers to snuffle at their leisure.
The move to vigilante internet monitoring is something that has not even been tried in Saudi Arabia or China which has so far depended on the Government to do its job.
Apparently the Securing Adolescents From Exploitation-Online Act, or SAFE Act is to protect children from the menace of paedophiles.
All it will take is for someone in the Bible Belt to think that a painting of naked cherubs is kiddie porn and someone will be fined.
Since no one objects to such laws if they are under this umbrella it was passed by Parliament with only two republicans objecting.
But ISPs were stunned by the move, which seems to have caught them on the hop. The Democratic leadership rushed the bill through under a special procedure which is supposed to be used for noncontroversial legislation.
Kate Dean, head of the Internet Service Provider Association was worried that the industry would be required to retain images of child pornography after reporting them.
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A Comment from the site:
Line oh one more thing: "The move to vigilante internet monitoring is something that has not even been tried in Saudi Arabia or China which has so far depended on the Government to do its job." It HAS been tried in the EU and even before that in countries like britain alone, and is in effect today, so piffle to that line. The 'free' west long ago surpassed china, although I hear the saudi are one step ahead of us, so far. posted by : W.-, 07 December 2007 TechFinder