| Submit your comments on this article |
| Home Front: Culture Wars |
| US House Votes To Outlaw The Internet. Again. |
| 2007-12-06 |
| 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. Before the House vote, which was a lopsided 409 to 2, Rep. Nick Lampson (D-Texas) held a press conference on Capitol Hill with John Walsh, the host of America's Most Wanted and Ernie Allen, head of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. |
| Posted by:Anonymoose |
| #19 3dc, The Democratic Leadership snuck this through without debate. Without debate, things like Usenet or IRC aren't able to be brought up and discussed. |
| Posted by: www 2007-12-06 23:26 |
| #18 Fly-by-Night was once never thought of in the US Congress. That process was done by thugs and dictators. After people go to bed in those countries, the apparatus would kick into gear, arrest someone or start a legislative process, hold a kangaroo court or hold a vote, and by the time the general populace awakes the next morning, they are beholden to the results, without their input. That is the Democratic Party today. |
| Posted by: www 2007-12-06 23:23 |
| #17 Have they ever tried to use Usenet or IRC? Do the idiots in DC have a method to avoid video qxwxrty99 at youtube that isn't what you thought it was? Same for spam? |
| Posted by: 3dc 2007-12-06 22:26 |
| #16 I don't understand this. The Internet is for pr0n!. Isn't that right, Kate Monster? |
| Posted by: Eric Jablow 2007-12-06 21:24 |
| #15 A bill to establish the National Commission on the Prevention of Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism, and for other purposes. Looks like it would let the congress critters define as terrorism anything they wanted to. It has already passed the House. S-1959 |
| Posted by: SR-71 2007-12-06 20:55 |
| #14 Maybe they're having trouble with child pr0n prosecutions because the perpetrators are just saying "one of my neighbors must be using my wireless". It would make me stop to think about passing something that would make clear who was responsible. Sort of reminds me of the joke about the British switching to drive on the right hand side of the road from now on. To make it easier, they're going to do it in phases. The first phase will involve the lorries . . . . :-) |
| Posted by: gorb 2007-12-06 20:53 |
| #13 The Senate is hot to approve this too. Washington wants to be able to make anyone a criminal. It's really all about them being in crushing power over us. The fines are just way out of scale showing how out of touch your member of Congress is with the average person and truly small business. If I was providing WiFi at my Business I'd shut it off the day this became law just to cover my ass. The big thing is Cartoons != reality. Hentai Anime is not reality. Art != reality Artwork is not reality. Stupid Congress is stupid. |
| Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom 2007-12-06 18:41 |
| #12 You are an albino wookie? Gee, I can't figure out if that would cover up the gray hair or just make it worse. |
| Posted by: Abdominal Snowman 2007-12-06 17:31 |
| #11 Idjits all of them. They be workin on that 0% approval rating. |
| Posted by: Gabby Cussworth 2007-12-06 17:11 |
| #10 Whoa! Look at the vote: 409 to 2! I'll bet that included a poll-driven Republican or two (hundred). It's all appearances. They know the Senate will have to take this up and it will be quashed there, so they are free to vote with their hearts and not their minds for the sake of appearances. Idjits all of them. |
| Posted by: gorb 2007-12-06 14:36 |
| #9 This needs to DIE! You idiots in congress. |
| Posted by: newc 2007-12-06 12:36 |
| #8 I can't believe I am siding with Ron Paul. |
| Posted by: Excalibur 2007-12-06 12:00 |
| #7 Can you say James Michael McHaney, boys and girls? |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2007-12-06 11:31 |
| #6 So there's hardly an emergency, which makes the Democrats' rush for a vote more inexplicable than usual. Maybe. Unless there are 'pictures' out there with Donks in them that they don't want 'circulated' on the internet in an |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2007-12-06 11:28 |
| #5 A comment elsewhere said to be absolutely sure, they should have included an amendment that would outlaw sex, guns and religion. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2007-12-06 10:17 |
| #4 You are an albino wookie? |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2007-12-06 10:11 |
| #3 Not me! The other wookie! |
| Posted by: Abdominal Snowman 2007-12-06 10:00 |
| #2 But... But... The Dhimmocrats INVENTED the information superhighway! It's their right to destroy it... And... And... But... Oh, Look, it's the Rethuglican War on Science And Technology! Look at the wookie! Look at the wookie! |
| Posted by: Abdominal Snowman 2007-12-06 09:58 |
| #1 They just want control and to tax it. Hey dhimocrats... FUCK YOU!! Obscene enough? |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2007-12-06 09:37 |