William Chumley proposes "obscene content" bill on personal computers
This seems real, and if it is..
This seems real, and if it is.. I thought Italy was among the best when it comes to, huh, less than smart law proposals about computers and the Internet, but it’s not match for South Carolina. Quoting from RT America:
- A bill pre-filed by Republican State Representative William Chumley would require that personal computers and other devices block internet access to pornography and obscene content
- This “Human Trafficking Prevention Act” would fine manufacturers or sellers of electronic devices that do not install the blocks, whether they are created in factories or are at the point of sale. The bill name comes from the fact that it wound raise money for the South Carolina Attorney General Office’s human trafficking task force because…
- to remove the block, from their newly purchased cellphones, tablets and computers consumers should pay an extra $20, but only after they verify that they are at least 18 years old and submit a written request that the filter be disabled after receiving a written warning of the potential dangers of disabling the blocker
And now, just try to imagine Mr. William Chumley trying to…
- tell developers to build software and hardware that will really work like this, and be unbreakable
- guarantee to privacy and human rights activists that
- no list of people who paid to watch porn will ever end up on wikileaks or similar
- the same software could never be used to also block politically “troublesome” content
- tell all the companies that sell computers, tablet or smartphones online that they must check, and if the buyer is from South Carolina tell her “that will be 20 bucks and 3 days more for shipping, so we can install the block, thanks for shopping with us!”
- prevent all South Carolina residents from doing any combination of:
- buy new devices only online, or outside South Carolina
- ask their buddies in neighboring states to buy a new computer and bring it as a present, when they come over for Christmas
- replace the hard drive that contains the “block” with a new, uncrippled one, bought in South Carolina
- installing Linux, without any filter, on their computer
- (even simpler) use Linux from a live USB drive, without installing anything
- learn how to use a VPN and similar tools to bypass this and other “blocks”
- never vote for him anymore
Did I forget anything?
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