Watchdog.org
By Taylor Millard
Some lawmakers in the Palmetto State apparently wants it to become the Palmetto Parent.
South Carolina state Reps. Bill Chumley and Mike Burns have filed a bill that would require computer manufacturers or retailers to install and operate software that “renders obscenity inaccessible” on any device with internet access.
Photo by govexec.com
The bill also wants to make sure there are “minimum requirements” for the blocking software, and for there to be a “procedure” for users to turn the software off. If you don’t get the software, you could face criminal penalties.
People wanting to remove the porn-blocking software have to pay $20 after verifying with the state they’re 18 or older.
Supporters say they just want to stop human trafficking, which Chumley called “pretty much an epidemic.”
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“It’s growing a lot faster than we thought it was,” Chumley told Watchdog. “When we first started working on this bill, we thought we knew the extent that it’d grown. … It’s a big problem. We’d like to help the task force looking to fight it.”
Political analyst and sexual freedom activist Liz Harrison doesn’t believe the bill will actually accomplish what supporters say it will.
“There is a general movement against sex work of all kinds in the South, which is leading to large bureaucracies with nebulous purposes,” she said, while also pointing out that people might end up doing things laws were created to stop. “Strippers between the ages of 18 and 21 in Louisiana are turning to prostitution, because the law there won’t permit them to remain in the relative safety of the strip clubs.”
There are also questions about enforcement because of how many devices use the Internet on a regular basis.
“There aren’t really things in place to filter content for these devices, but yet they may be subject to that law,“ Chris Howard with South Carolina-based That Computer Store said, as he discussed electronic devices like a Kindle, Amazon Echo, and Google Home. “How do you circumvent the $20 charge on a device that could be used, but doesn’t have an interface or there’s no software for that type of thing?”
Howard also said the mandate would pose a “specific challenge” for his employer because the company sells computers that are hand built. He called the anti-porn bill a “logistical and technical challenge” for other electronics retailers. …