McCain Hates Blogs
In an example of how politicians don’t understand ‘the Googles’ there is new legislation on Capital Hill that would treat blogs like Internet Service Providers (ISPs). What would this mean? From the Think Progress website:
- Commercial websites and personal blogs “would be required to report illegal images or videos posted by their users or pay fines of up to $300,000.”
- Internet service providers (ISPs) are already required to issue such reports, but under McCain’s legislation, bloggers with comment sections may face “even stiffer penalties” than ISPs.
- 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, and blogs like DailyKos, which allows users to sign up for personal diaries.
Sure, some sites can be creepy but why does the Senator lump the entire blogsphere in with child pr0n? And what’s with the harsh punishment of a sloppily policed comments section? More coverage from CNet:
According to the proposed legislation, these types of individuals or businesses would be required to file reports: any Web site with a message board; any chat room; any social-networking site; any e-mail service; any instant-messaging service; any Internet content hosting service; any domain name registration service; any Internet search service; any electronic communication service; and any image or video-sharing service.
*Sigh. I guess that means no more innuendo about how playing with one’s Wii is good for children.
