Utah governor weighs antiporn proposal

Found on CNet News on Thursday, 03 March 2005
Browse Internet

The Utah governor is deciding whether to sign a bill that would require Internet providers to block Web sites deemed pornographic and that could also target e-mail providers and search engines.

Late Wednesday night, the Utah Senate approved controversial legislation that would create an official list of Web sites with publicly available material found to be "harmful to minors." Internet providers in Utah must offer their customers a way to disable access to sites on the list or face felony charges.

A letter that NetCoalition sent to the state Senate earlier this week said the wording is so vague it could affect search engines, e-mail providers and Web hosting companies. "A search engine that links to a Web site in Utah might be required...to 'properly rate' the Web site," the letter said.

There should be a law against clueless users instead. If I want to block certain content, I add it to my firewall. Why bug an ISP with something I can do? Someone should also note that kids are usually better with computers and will easily find a way around it by using proxies. Why make it easy when you can have it complicated?