The Stupidity Of Making Porn Filters Mandatory On Mobile Devices (And Other Musings On Reality)

NSFW!

Lawmakers in the Alabama state legislature have voted for a bill that would require parental controls and NSFW content filters to be enabled on every phone and tablet sold in the state. House Bill (HB) 298, or the Protection of Minors from Unfiltered Devices Act, cleared the state House with an overwhelming 70-8 vote, with two dozen members abstaining from voting, last week. Now in the Senate, HB 298 is seeing success after the bill’s sole sponsor, state Rep. Chris Sells, failed in some previous legislative sessions to push this legislation to approval.

The Stupidity Of Making Porn Filters Mandatory On Mobile Devices (And Other Musings On Reality)

Senator Brian Schatz Joins The Moral Panic With Unconstitutional Age Verification Bill

Senator Brian Schatz is one of the more thoughtful Senators we have, and he and his staff have actually spent time talking to lots of experts in trying to craft bills regarding the internet. Unfortunately, it still seems like he still falls under the seductive sway of this or that moral panic, so when the bills actually come out, they’re perhaps more thoughtfully done than the moral panic bills of his colleagues, but they’re still destructive.

Senator Brian Schatz Joins The Moral Panic With Unconstitutional Age Verification Bill

Related:

Bipartisan Senate bill would ban social media algorithms for minors

Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Chris Murphy (D-Conn), Katie Britt (R-Ala) and Tom Cotton (R-Ark) introduced the Protecting Kids on Social Media Act on Wednesday. The bill would set a minimum age of 13 to use social media sites, and would require parental consent and age verification for users under 18.

Unconfirmed: Starlink internet services widely used in Ukraine to visit pornographic websites

A recent study has discovered that Starlink satellite internet services in war-torn Ukraine have been widely used to surf pornographic websites and disseminate sexually explicit visual material, as Elon Musk said his company SpaceX will continue to fund the network in the Eastern European country.

Starlink internet services widely used in Ukraine to visit pornographic websites: Study

Chuckled at this, yet our tax dollars are paying for Starlink!

California’s Age Appropriate Design Code Is Radical Anti-Internet Policy

from the well,-there-goes-the-neighborhood dept

Thu, Sep 15th 2022 12:55pm – Mike Masnick

This isn’t a surprise, but it’s still frustrating. Gavin Newsom, who wants to be President some day, and thus couldn’t risk misleading headlines that he didn’t “protect the children,” has now signed AB 2273 into law (this follows on yesterday’s decision to sign the bad, but slightly less destructive, AB 587 into law). At this point there’s not much more I can say about why AB 2273 is so bad. I’ve explained why it’s literally impossible to comply with (and why many sites will just ignore it). I’ve explained how it’s pretty clearly unconstitutional. I’ve explained how the whole idea was pushed for and literally sponsored by a Hollywood director / British baroness who wants to destroy the internet. I’ve explained how it won’t do much, if anything, to protect children, but will likely put them at much greater risk. I’ve explained how the company it will likely benefit most is the world’s largest porn company not to mention COVID disinfo peddlers and privacy lawyers. I’ve explained how the companies supporting the law insist that we shouldn’t worry because websites will just start scanning your face when you visit.

Gavin Newsom Fucks Over The Open Internet, Signs Disastrously Stupid Age Appropriate Design Code

Related:

California’s Age Appropriate Design Code Is Radical Anti-Internet Policy

The Supreme Court Already Explained Why California’s Age Appropriate Design Code Is Unconstitutional

from the must-we-always-relive-the-past? dept

Fri, Sep 2nd 2022 09:40am – Mike Masnick

In July of 1995, Time Magazine published one of its most regrettable stories ever. The cover just read “CYBERPORN” with the subhead reading: “EXCLUSIVE A new study shows how pervasive and wild it really is. Can we protect our kidsand free speech?” The author of that piece, Philip Elmer-Dewitt later admitted that it was his “worst” story “by far.”

The Supreme Court Already Explained Why California’s Age Appropriate Design Code Is Unconstitutional

Previously:

Why Is A British Baroness Drafting California Censorship Laws?