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Legal Issues

by Mike Masnick

Wed, Apr 23rd 2003 12:35am





Group Questions Pennsylvania Site-Blocking Law

from the it's-about-time dept

Earlier this month Pennsylvania's Attorney General announced that they won't release their their list of banned sites because, after all, the point of them being banned is that someone in Pennsylvania's government who knows better than you doesn't think you should see the website. Today, the Center for Democracy and Technology appealed that decision as they're concerned about innocent sites (such as those co-hosted at the same IP address) being caught in the crossfire. Of course, this appeal is unlikely to change their mind, as they seem to believe that only people in the Attorney General's office have special powers that make it okay for them to see the websites in question and make sure they're "bad" for the rest of us. If, as expected, this happens, then the CDT could sue in state court, but they say they're going to wait and see for now.

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    jeff, Apr 23rd, 2003 @ 1:56pm

    uhhhh

    Maybe you should point out that this is CHILD PORN that is getting blocked. I am glad they are doing this to keep kids safe. I love how people try to skew this as blocking adult pron but it is Kiddie PORN people!!!!!! It isn't protected by free speach. and I read the law. The ISP's are told the URL of the site not the ip address. according to philly.com many ISP's are blocking by URL ans some block by IP cause it's easier not because they have to.

     

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    •  
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      Mike (profile), Apr 23rd, 2003 @ 3:48pm

      Re: uhhhh

      The issue isn't necessarily what kind of porn it is, but that the sites are being blocked with no review.

      First off, if they're kiddie porn, then they should be reported to whoever is hosting the material. Then, the site should be taken offline and those responsible arrested. Telling an ISP they should block it, instead of actually taking it offline is bad.

      Second, there should be some sort of review process. By keeping it closed, no one knows if Pennsylvania is really taking down kiddie porn, or if they're blocking sites that express viewpoints they disagree with.

       

      [ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]


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