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from the a-marriage-is-formed-between-one-man-and-one-electronic-computing-device dept.
More than a dozen state legislatures are considering a bill called the "Human Trafficking Prevention Act," which has nothing to do with human trafficking and all to do with one man's crusade against pornography at the expense of free speech.
At its heart, the model bill would require device manufacturers to pre-install "obscenity" filters on devices like cell phones, tablets, and computers. Consumers would be forced to pony up $20 per device in order to surf the Internet without state censorship. The legislation is not only technologically unworkable, it violates the First Amendment and significantly burdens consumers and businesses.
Perhaps more shocking is the bill's provenance. The driving force behind the legislation is a man named Mark Sevier, who has been using the alias "Chris Severe" to contact legislators. According to the Daily Beast, Sevier is a disbarred attorney who has sued major tech companies, blaming them for his pornography addiction, and sued states for the right to marry his laptop. Reporters Ben Collins and Brandy Zadrozny uncovered a lengthy legal history for Sevier, including an open arrest warrant and stalking convictions, as well as evidence that Sevier misrepresented his own experience working with anti-trafficking non-profits.
The bill has been introduced in some form [in] Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, New Jersey, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, West Virginia, and Wyoming (list here). We recommend that any legislator who has to consider this bill read the Daily Beast's investigation.
[...] It’s unfortunate that the Human Trafficking Prevention Act has gained traction in so many states, but we're pleased to see that some, such as Wyoming and North Dakota, have already rejected it. Legislators should do the right thing: uphold the Constitution, protect consumers, and not use the problem of human trafficking as an excuse to promote this individual’s agenda against pornography.
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2017/04/states-introduce-dubious-legislation-ransom-internet
(Score: 2) by bradley13 on Wednesday April 26 2017, @01:44PM (9 children)
I had a quick look at the draft legislation in one state. Key provisions from the introduction: "pornography is a public health crisis", "...products with pre-set activated filters", "pays for the cost of..."
In a nutshell: "The state is your mommy", "pay and register if you want to look at naughty pictures", and "more tax dollars for pork".
Plus, whoever gets to run that filter will be able to rake in the bucks from all sides.
Where do these clueless politicians come from?
Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
(Score: 4, Informative) by TheGratefulNet on Wednesday April 26 2017, @02:26PM (4 children)
Where do these clueless politicians come from?
repressive church culture.
every corner on every street in the deep south is a church. its bakes into their culture. they can't separate themselves from it even if they tried.
it controls them and damages their thinking ability.
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
(Score: 3, Informative) by jdavidb on Wednesday April 26 2017, @03:06PM
every corner on every street in the deep south is a church. its bakes into their culture. they can't separate themselves from it even if they tried.
It's weird, because the Bible actually condemns meddling in other people's business: " rel="url2html-31023">http://biblehub.com/1_peter/4-15.htm
ⓋⒶ☮✝🕊 Secession is the right of all sentient beings
(Score: 2) by bradley13 on Wednesday April 26 2017, @05:27PM (2 children)
repressive church culture
Sadly, I know. I have family in the South in the US. I took my kids to one church service with some cousins, just so they would have had the experience.
Even I had forgotten how freakishly bizarre a pentacostal church service could be: The minister up front, after a hell-and-brimstone sermon, breaking down into pretend-tears, begging for someone, anyone to come down the aisle, confess their sins, and convert. Jerry Falwell and Tammy Faye couldn't have done it any better, except that he wasn't wearing Tammy Faye's tear-soluble mascara.
So, yes, that's where these prudes come from. And, no, they do not believe in our right to do what we want, because their religion assures them that they are right, and we are wrong.
Probably people in the US are used to it, but to Europeans, the number of times Republican politicians (Democrats, too, but less) invoke God in their speeches is pretty appalling, especially for a country that claims to a separate of church and state. I suppose they're pandering to the religious right, but to the rest of the world they sound like religious fruitcakes.
Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Wednesday April 26 2017, @06:32PM
So, yes, that's where these prudes come from.
Yeah about that... sometimes when people say something its from the heart. Other times they say stuff in a compensatory manner in direct opposition to their behavior. One is a bit more common than the other, like 100x more common. You get one guess...
Kinda like if you want to find a male politician who's plowing dudes or getting plowed by dudes, you just look for the guy complaining the most about gays in his speeches, and there's your gay republican politician, guarantee he's in some airport bathroom for hours each weekend. It was like this in the army too, kind of the gay soldier mating call was find the soldier who wouldn't STFU about gay stuff. Its like their gaydar beacon or something. Its actually a fairly sensible communication protocol. Folks who actually hate gays will agree. Folks who don't care will ignore or ask them to STFU. Folks using it as a mating call will reply with "Oh I don't know if they're that bad I know a gay who's OK" and five minutes later those two are in the broom closet together, naked. Been there seen that.
On average I'm not sure if extreme Christian speech and behavior is good or bad.
On the good side I've personally benefited as a teen boy from dating teen turbo-christian girls who say "God will forgive me on Sunday I'll just sing louder, so tonight we can (insert plot of XXX movie here) all night long". I'm told this is the preacher's daughter syndrome or something but these girls were not necessarily actual blood descendants of religious leaders just acted a bit more devout and holier than thou than most, until you get them alone on a date and they're a bit wild even by teenage boy standards... If you STFU about it and never tell a soul these girls gossip amongst themselves and next thing you know "Cindy said I should say hello" as she shakes your hand with her study bible in the other hand, and like 48 hours later there goes another box of condoms in one weekend...
On the bad side I've personally been disappointed as an older dude by management/leadership saying "God will forgive me on Sunday if I pray extra loud, so today we can F over the investors and suppliers and contractors and ruin the environment and the poor people can F themselves like Jesus said or someone said anyway (sir that was mister scrooge) well whatever like scrooge said blah blah blah"
So some dude wants a legally required pr0n filter. Well on a total sum of experience with pr0n I'm still probably net good side, so ... And this is going to give my socially challenged bros in the nerdy computer dude group a bit more social capital growing up and bypassing filters... Maybe a (gasp) girl would ask one of my R9K-tier bros for help bypassing her filter, could be the start of something big for the lucky couple... I'm kinda "eh" about the whole thing having seen the big picture.
Fundamentally isn't this just discriminating against sub-90 IQ people? Because everyone smarter will bypass it or work around so only the idiots will be pr0n-less? Like don't bother to apply to ivy league schools as a high school student if your pr0n filter is still enabled? Is limiting pr0n access to dumb people bad? How does this fit in with human biological differences like IQ vs race on average, basically white boys are still going to be looking at /hc/ and non-white/asian races not so much anymore?
On average I'm not entirely sure I've come out ahead or behind on this deal.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday April 26 2017, @06:58PM
The type of service you describe is practically an art form.
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday April 26 2017, @02:35PM (2 children)
Whoever gets to run that filter will need to employ people who, um . . . monitor and examine material that may be pornography. They will also need to maintain a large collection for comparative purposes.
My best guess would be states that voted to put an illiterate [politicususa.com] clown circus into power. Someone who can barely read the title [washingtonpost.com], let along the text.
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 26 2017, @02:46PM (1 child)
Well, in that case it should be easy to get rid of him. Just give him a declaration of himself resigning, and claim it is an executive order for the wall to Mexico. He'll sign it, and then he's no longer president. :-)
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday April 26 2017, @04:20PM
But he does stumble over reading the title. So you would need to title the order something like: "The Trump Protects America Order"
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday April 26 2017, @06:08PM
The politicians are full of clue - projects like these line their friends' pockets, make their friends more powerful, and their friends help the politicians stay in power, in an endless vicious cycle until some guy dressed in a bath sheet plays violin while the capital city burns.
🌻🌻 [google.com]