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Congress mulls new P2P porn restrictions

Michael Stanclift   on 14 March 2003 - 08:44 · 27 comments & 1803 views

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Members of Congress on Thursday said new laws aimed at restricting pornography on peer-to-peer networks might be necessary, as police vowed to step up enforcement efforts.

During a hearing of the House Government Reform Committee, politicians complained of two problems: The allegedly widespread distribution of illegal child pornography on peer-to-peer (P2P) networks, and the ease by which a youth could stumble across sexually explicit files that may be legal for adults but inappropriate for minors.

"We have a rating system for video games. We have a rating system for music," said Rep. Adam Putnam, R-Fl., who suggested a government-mandated system would be appropriate for files on P2P networks. Otherwise, Putnam warned, P2P users could "prey on spelling errors of third graders looking for Pokemon."

John Netherland, the acting director of the Department of Homeland Security's CyberSmuggling Center, said his office would focus more closely on P2P networks. The center already is "expanding its investigative efforts to encompass this new technology," Netherland said. "Evidence is easily captured and preserved on a real-time basis...for these reasons peer-to-peer file-sharing investigations are likely to increase."

News source: News.com


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American Xbox Live kits can still be ordered from American and imported to Australia without any problems on Australian systems.

Post a comment · Send to friend Comments · There are 27 additional comments
#1 warwagon on 14 Mar 2003 - 08:48
[quote]Members of Congress on Thursday said new laws aimed at restricting pornography on peer-to-peer networks might be necessary, as police vowed to step up enforcement efforts[/quote]
(1 reply) #2 Tom Servo on 14 Mar 2003 - 09:09
It's the month of stupid bills!
#2.1 uRdED on 14 Mar 2003 - 13:19
Month? I thought it was perpetual...didn't realize they limited the submission stupid bills to just one month...
(1 reply) #3 Fubar on 14 Mar 2003 - 09:29
and how the hell are they gonna do this..... i agree with what they are doing but cmon it seems a bit bloody silly if they cant control p2p in the first place let alone the contents of p2p files... i hope they come up with a smart way of stopping child porn and so on
#3.1 Tom Servo on 14 Mar 2003 - 09:31
They don't care because they don't have a fscking clue how P2P works, they just wanna prohibit it.
(3 replies) #4 idbuythatforadollar on 14 Mar 2003 - 09:33
lol... i don't have any problem with kazaa people automatically not sharing files that contain both the words 'child' and 'porn' in them, but normal porn should not be filtered. i would bet most boys have visited a porn site by the time they are 12...
#4.1 CoolShady2002 on 14 Mar 2003 - 11:14
Darn, am I that predictable
#4.2 Avenger on 14 Mar 2003 - 16:08
Lol.
#4.3 Angel Blue01 on 16 Mar 2003 - 21:37
I didn't.
#5 Neobond on 14 Mar 2003 - 09:55
The only way this could work is if a standard was introduced (like Hardware standards) it could be an age key that companies could use to automatically restrict porn based on the presence of such a key. It would only work if the main 3 Linux, Mac and Microsoft intergrated an age key type system into its operating systems that software applications could "check" to see if the person accessing the application is an adult or minor. That would be the most simple and effective implentation. granted these things could be "cracked" but people seeking cracks and a way around such a system should also be expected to take the consequences of what they find on the internet while searching for pokemon (when misspelled)
#6 V0b0 on 14 Mar 2003 - 10:07
pocahontas having almost as catostrophic results.
(6 replies) #7 tmaxxtigger on 14 Mar 2003 - 12:51
Pity this is going to be impossible to implement. Anyone who thinks that porn is okay is deceiving themselves. Anyway, it's everyone right to choose, but let make it age appropriate at least... Go ahead, flame me, I've made my stand...
#7.1 werejag on 14 Mar 2003 - 15:07
we value your stand. thou, so off centered. so how much will this cost the tax payers? will we have a world government over seeing this "big brother" porn chip? can we also filter profane speak, unwelcome religions, racy thoughts, etc lets not stop at porn lets add these chips to our brains. so we can also stop terrorism, strife and general hate. who will control these chips. who will determan your thoughts for you. ****** thank GOD this will never be implemented. the government has no right to tell me or censor me from what i do in my privacy of my home.

Last edited by 10354 on 14 Mar 2003 - 15:30
#7.2 YaddaMe on 14 Mar 2003 - 15:35
[neoquote=#7.0 by tmaxxtigger]Anyway, it's everyone right to choose[/neoquote] Well... not everyones. Its still illegal for anyone of any age to view, transmit, sell, buy, or posess porn in Oklahoma and a few other states (iirc). Best April Fools joke I ever played was when I sent my college roomate a fake letter from the OSBI (Okla St Beareau of Invest), which stated they had obtained his name from a siezed customer database, which identified him as buying porn. The letter instructed him go to the OSBI office and surrender his porn collection or face charges.
#7.3 Avenger on 14 Mar 2003 - 16:10
[neoquote=#7.2 by YaddaMe] Best April Fools joke I ever played was when I sent my college roomate a fake letter from the OSBI (Okla St Beareau of Invest), which stated they had obtained his name from a siezed customer database, which identified him as buying porn. The letter instructed him go to the OSBI office and surrender his porn collection or face charges.[/neoquote] Wow, that's devious! Ouch.
#7.4 werejag on 15 Mar 2003 - 07:36
[neoquote=#7.2 by YaddaMe]Well... not everyones. Its still illegal for anyone of any age to view, transmit, sell, buy, or posess porn in Oklahoma and a few other states (iirc). Best April Fools joke I ever played was when I sent my college roomate a fake letter from the OSBI (Okla St Beareau of Invest), which stated they had obtained his name from a siezed customer database, which identified him as buying porn. The letter instructed him go to the OSBI office and surrender his porn collection or face charges.[/neoquote] oklahoma is clueless!! trust me !
#7.5 YaddaMe on 16 Mar 2003 - 00:58
You're preachin to the choir man. Live in OK as well?
#7.6 YaddaMe on 16 Mar 2003 - 01:01
[neoquote=#7.3 by Avenger]Wow, that's devious! Ouch. [/neoquote] Indeed, but that was the whole point. It went so well, I didn't tell him for 3 days while he pondered actually going up there to turn it in. Afterall, who in their right mind would want to go up to the office and say "here's my porn".. lol
#8 iomayho on 14 Mar 2003 - 14:01
i think that all politicians do is create issues that were not issues originally,... so they have something to do and get paid......
#9 DsnBehind on 14 Mar 2003 - 14:31
[quote]...may be legal for adults but inappropriate for minors.[/quote] Who says it's inappropriate? If people want to view it, let them. Just some horny teenagers. HeHeHe
#10 tuxracer on 14 Mar 2003 - 18:09
Thank god we have the people at Homeland Security protecting us for porn. When this thing was responsible for a large chunk of our $800 billion deficit I was worried. But now I see how absolutely necessary they are to our security.
(2 replies) #11 Fotix on 14 Mar 2003 - 19:02
It's just binary images for crying out loud. How about you watch what your kids are doing online? Or better yet, don't buy a computer. Better still, don't have kids! You can't "protect" them no matter how hard you try! It's an illusion of control. Ugh, I won't really rant this time...
#11.1 TC17 on 15 Mar 2003 - 04:40
[neoquote=#11.0 by Fotix]It's just binary images for crying out loud. How about you watch what your kids are doing online? Or better yet, don't buy a computer. Better still, don't have kids! You can't "protect" them no matter how hard you try! It's an illusion of control. Ugh, I won't really rant this time... [/neoquote] Whenever the media goes on this rant about protecting kids from porn, I think to myself, well jeez, why do the parents even have internet access in the first place if they are so worried about it. I never had the internet when I was growing up.
#11.2 Fotix on 15 Mar 2003 - 05:46
That's a good point. Generations of people got by without computers or the internet and some still do. As a side note, people like you and me and businesses shouldn't have to suffer in this instance because of others inability to grasp reality or accept they cannot control children 100% without putting a chip in their brain and manipulating them like robots. Corporations can control P2P by banning the apps from their company computers as is their right to do so.
(1 reply) #12 paulhaskew on 14 Mar 2003 - 21:29
pron is bad, but so is total control...
#12.1 werejag on 15 Mar 2003 - 07:38
how is porn bad? plz expalain the religous dogma?
#13 docholoday on 15 Mar 2003 - 02:25
Ummm... maybe it's just me, but if they want to regulate P2P, shouldn't they stop trying to shut it down first? It seems counter productive to introduce legislation regulating something that most of them want to deem illegal in the first place. What might a good analogy be?: [i]"Violence in movies is bad, it's evil and we're going to get rid of it by shutting down movie studios... but if you're under 18 you should only see PG-13 movies." [/i] Give me a break. Their priorities are so screwed up they have no idea what they're doing anymore. Shouldn't they be working on something like universal health care and tax laws rather than trying to rate porn? Just my two cents.

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