Kelly writes “Senator McCain from Arizona doesn’t like blogs. That’s made clear in this article http://thinkprogress.org/2006/12/13/mccain-war-on- blogs/ And he’s doing something about it: proposing legislation that will have the effect of shutting down many or perhaps most blogs.
One effect of this legislation, were it to pass, that would be of particular interest to librarians, is expressed in this quote from the article: `Social networking sites will be forced to take `effective measures, such as deleting user profiles, to remove any website that is `associated’ with a sex offender. Sites may include not only Facebook and MySpace, but also Amazon.com, which permits author profiles and personal lists.’ The article comments, ‘When he introduced his legislation to the Senate, McCain offered no evidence that children are being victimized by people who post comments on blogs.’
In addition, McCain’s legislation would end up curtailing all free speech on blogs [perhaps here even in LISNews?], because it will hold bloggers “responsible for all activity in the comments sections and user profiles.’ And the fines against bloggers would excede that of ISPs!”
Sad but true
I live and work in Arizona and it has some of the most backwards policies when it comes to the Internet. It’s against Arizona State Law to view pornography in a public library. Of course, this always begs the question “what defines pornography?” Meanwhile, we have state mandated filters and crap like that.
McCain also mentioned in a CNN article (I can’t find it right now, I’m at work after all.) that he doesn’t use e-mail all that much.
This is a man who doesn’t use one of the most basic communication tools of the 20th and 21st centuries, something now on par with a telephone, and a most basic part of the internet. He doesn’t use e-mail and he’s going to tell me he knows something about blogs? He’s going to tell me he knows enough about blogs to make decisions like this?
This legislation is just plain wrong. What is it with Republicans and free speech? Why do Republicans hate America so much? Why does he have stuff on his page about limited government and “common sense conservativism” and then pull this? This does not sound like limited government, nor does it bespeak of common sense.
Predator Panic
Predator Panic
http://www.csicop.org/si/2006-05/panic.html
Re:Sad but true
Repugs hate free speech because it has a tendency to expose their innumerable lies and related schemes for enriching themselves and increasing their power. They’d have no reason to hate it if they did not have anything to hide.