Government Votes to Block Porn on Work Computers
Government Votes to Block Porn on Work Computers
Posted 07/09/2010 at 6:52am
| by Paul Lilly
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Government officials will have to find something else to do during work hours than visit those other 'Tube video sites following a recent vote in the U.S. House of Representatives to block viewing or downloading porn.
Seems like a no-brainer, but in typical government fashion, it took a 111-page amendment to get the point across, along with some controversial wording.
"None of the funds made available in this act may be used to maintain or establish a computer network unless such network blocks the viewing, downloading, and exchanging of pornography," the bill states on the second to last page.
The problem with that, says John Morris, general counsel for the Center for Democracy and Technology in Washington, D.C., is "how broad the reach of this is, and will lead to constitutional problems and economic problems." Morris used the example of a mom-and-pop business landing a contract to deliver toilet paper to a military base that includes overhead. In this scenario, they would have to pay to filter their computer networks, even though no one but the owner would ever use it.
That wasn't the only point of contention.
"The Supreme Court has made clear that government attempts to eliminate sexually explicit speech on the Internet raises serious free speech concerns," said Laura Murphy, director of the ACLU's Washington legislative office. "Congress should not pass such vague and potentially speech-restrictive provisions that are constitutionally suspect."
Ultimately, Congress voted in favor of the legislation by a 239-182 vote.
Image Credit: funny-potato.com
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dinny
November 02, 2010 at 12:22pm
Maybe this amendment will make a difference in online porn consume but I doubt it's a fundamental change, porn will still be an industry either online or not, government officials will still find escorts Amsterdam right there were they left them only this time at their home computers.
thetechchild
July 09, 2010 at 7:56pm
Take it up with the government. The very fact that you're allowed to insult the government is actually protected by the government, in case you haven't noticed. Go live in some other countries for another half of your life, and yell against the government in China, if you think the entire government is so horrible. True, this won't weed out the 'assholes' who watch porn, but that's not the point. Obviously, the point is to stop porn being watched entirely. It's going to be contested (the business of sex will always be wanted), and nothing we say on a PC magazine's site is going to affect it. Keep the insults & sarcasm out, please.
At any rate, I think it's unlikely to stand for long, not least because you can't filter porn out completely. Any of their tech-savvy (a small group, but...) employees won't be stopped from jacking off to pixels.
Shrody
July 09, 2010 at 7:42pm
They (the Man) make it intentionally difficult to follow all the laws they are voting on until afterwards intentionally. Down with the man plz
NoCtrl
July 09, 2010 at 5:56pm
LOL Yeah, and how do you weed out the assholes if you block out porn. It's like laws requiring people to wear seatbelts and helmets. How are you going to clean up the gene pool if you don't let stupid people be... stupid?
timmyw
July 09, 2010 at 11:40am
Instead of imposing a costly, unworkable system that steps on civil liberties--FIRE THE IDIOTS SURFING FOR PORN ON THE TAXPAYERS DIME!!!
Zallomallo
July 09, 2010 at 10:35am
Hey government! When I want you to lead my life, tell me what to eat, wear, do, etc. I'll let you know.
nikki_gx
July 09, 2010 at 10:35am
They wording of this is so political and doesn't really do anything. Just because I install a filter on my network doesn't mean I have to use it all the time. There are more valid reasons to block certain sites for work computers, such as security and avoiding malware. People need to realize that IT shouldn't be used to babysit people, if an employee or and elected official is not doing their work or misusing their time then it's a management issue not a technological one. I had a manager ask me to look up a person's internet usage for the week and it turned out to be 1/10th of what the manager's usage was.
SirBC
July 09, 2010 at 8:19am
Mom and Pop could just use Untangle, a free and open source UTM (web filter, firewall, antivirus, intrusion prevention, antispam, etc).
www.untangle.com
Jelson
July 09, 2010 at 1:28pm
This might be a little off topic, but, can't we just say small business's. mom and pop? really? are there any of those left? lets be realistic.
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