Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Federal Government Moves to Regulate Wi-Fi

The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday overwhelmingly approved a bill saying that anyone offering an open Wi-Fi connection to the public must report illegal images including "obscene" cartoons and drawings--or face fines of up to $300,000.

That broad definition would cover individuals, coffee shops, libraries, hotels, and even some government agencies that provide Wi-Fi. It also sweeps in social-networking sites, domain name registrars, Internet service providers, and e-mail service providers such as Hotmail and Gmail, and it may require that the complete contents of the user's account be retained for subsequent police inspection.

...

Wednesday's vote caught Internet companies by surprise: the Democratic leadership rushed the SAFE Act to the floor under a procedure that's supposed to be reserved for noncontroversial legislation. It was introduced October 10, but has never received even one hearing or committee vote. In addition, the legislation approved this week has changed substantially since the earlier version and was not available for public review.

Not one Democrat opposed the SAFE Act. Two Republicans did: Rep. Ron Paul, the libertarian-leaning presidential candidate from Texas, and Rep. Paul Broun from Georgia.


This is why we need a Senate devoted to keeping power decentralized. Washington will continue to expand its power, always claiming the best of intentions.

And be ready to be called a pedophile if you oppose the federal government's regulation of the internet.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Of course, whether this new law will be used to persecute those looking at the "wrong" political cartoons, will depend on what the definition of "obscene" is.

--Mike P.