House of Reps Votes for Broad Wi-Fi Restrictions in the Name of Porn

Thu Dec 6, 2007 11:33PM EST

See Comments (14)

It's hard to fathom how severe the fallout of the SAFE Act could end up being, but if the House of Representives has its way, SAFE could be on the fast track to becoming the law of the land. In a vote of 409 to 2, the House overwhelmingly voted for the legislation, sending it now to the Senate.

What's SAFE? It stands for the Securing Adolescents From Exploitation-Online Act, and its reach could be unprecedented. Namely, it holds that anyone offering any public electronic communications service (including an open Wi-Fi connection or internet kiosk) must create a sort of dossier on anyone they suspect might be viewing child pornography over their network and submit it to the government. (Presumably the culprit would have to be caught in the act; the bill doesn't really say.) The service provider will also have to maintain an archive of all the suspect's files for use as evidence.

It sounds bad at first, but the definition of child pornography in this case is especially surprising. Per Cnet's Declan McCullagh, the definition of such images include those featuring fully clothed children in "lascivious" poses and even drawings of such obscenity. (That would include the popular form of hentai anime.)

Failure to comply could result in a first-offense fine of $150,000 and $300,000 after that. That means every library, coffee shop, and even private homes that offer open wireless access could face crushing penalties if they don't eavesdrop on their clientele. In other words: The government wants you to do its dirty work and play Big Brother on its behalf. Creepy.

Additionally scary: This legislation never received a committee vote or public hearing and was never made available for public review. Way to sneak one past the goalie, Congress!

UPDATE: Ars Technica writes that the bill may not be intended to have such broad consequences as discussed in the Cnet story... but even the bill's introducer isn't entirely sure. 

LINK: House vote on illegal images sweeps in Wi-Fi, Web sites

Comments on House of Reps Votes for Broad Wi-Fi Restrictions in the Name of Porn

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Join in the discussion. Here you'll see the comments in the order they were posted.

  • 6 Posted by j_alexfleury on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:45PM EDT Report Abuse

    PJB our government became that obnoxious a long time ago, but nobody is paying attention And what will this do to stop child porn? How many pedophiles go out in public to view their obsession?

  • 7 Posted by rogueist on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:49PM EDT Report Abuse

    Whoever introduced this and whoever voted for this needs to be voted out of office ASAP. This should never have passed.

  • 8 Posted by davidbdr on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:38PM EDT Report Abuse

    I propose a "Protection From Congress" bill. Laws already exist against child porn. These congressional bozos always try to legislate thought under the guise of protecting children. It's a safe cover since it is political a bad move to oppose such b.s.

  • 9 Posted by somebodys_here on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:32PM EDT Report Abuse

    This is why I don't like living in the states. Government interference in everyday life is getting (if not already) completely out of hand. I'm sick of this crap.

  • 10 Posted by wq1972 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:49PM EDT Report Abuse

    This is ridiculous. If the government so cares for this, why does not the government ban those porn sites, especially child porn site?

  • 12 Posted by idletyme@sbcglobal.net on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:22PM EDT Report Abuse

    Tp PJB1671: It isn't the Gov't. that is obnoxious, it is the people who view that stuff. I am also against too much govt. interference. This bill needs to be cleaned up so it is not so broad. Go after the ones who put that stuff out there. That is the place to start! JHH2007

  • 13 Posted by clairehertzler on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:26PM EDT Report Abuse

    well, something needs to be done about the child pornography. our children are being offered up in the name of protecting free speech and it's time to stop the free flow of pornography. pornography is what feeds the sex industry. pornography is what gets a lot of viewers worked up and acting out toward children. So what do you propose? I would like to see the producers of porn prosecuted, also. That would be the best thing but there is too much money involved and so they will simply find another way.

  • 14 Posted by meteorlady on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:16PM EDT Report Abuse

    Will the government never stop! Our founding fathers fought for freedom and we give it away without even a sigh or a letter to our representatives and congressmen. Our government has become obnoxious because we let it - we write comments on sites like this and complain, but we never actually take the time to let our government know that we are not happy.

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