Congress to WiFi Users—Become Censors, Or Else

Via CNET:

The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday overwhelmingly approved a bill saying that anyone offering an open Wi-Fi connection to the public must report illegal images including “obscene” cartoons and drawings—or face fines of up to $300,000.

Wednesday’s vote caught Internet companies by surprise: the Democratic leadership rushed the SAFE Act to the floor under a procedure that’s supposed to be reserved for noncontroversial legislation. It was introduced October 10, but has never received even one hearing or committee vote. In addition, the legislation approved this week has changed substantially since the earlier version and was not available for public review.

Not one Democrat opposed the SAFE Act. Two Republicans did: Rep. Ron Paul, the libertarian-leaning presidential candidate from Texas, and Rep. Paul Broun from Georgia.

This is what the SAFE Act requires: Anyone providing an “electronic communication service” or “remote computing service” to the public who learns about the transmission or storage of information about certain illegal activities or an illegal image must (a) register their name, mailing address, phone number, and fax number with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s “CyberTipline” and (b) “make a report” to the CyberTipline that (c) must include any information about the person or Internet address behind the suspect activity and (d) the illegal images themselves. [...]

The definition of which images qualify as illegal is expansive. It includes obvious child pornography, meaning photographs and videos of children being molested. But it also includes photographs of fully clothed minors in overly “lascivious” poses, and certain obscene visual depictions including a “drawing, cartoon, sculpture, or painting.” (Yes, that covers the subset of anime called hentai).

While I am of course disturbed by kiddie pr0n, and I’d love to see exploitation ended, perhaps even with extreme prejudice…well, isn’t this overkill?

At first blush, this seems like a badly-written piece of legislation that creates some unintended consequences, including seemingly imposing an obligation on anyone who might permit others to piggyback off their network connection to engage in a bit of snooping or possibly censorship.

It’s one thing to facilitate reporting of kiddie pr0n, but this seems a bit over the top.

Then we have the matter of the seeming over-breadth of reportable content. I don’t think there are many folks who would challenge trying to stop true exploitation of children. However, as the bill is described, it seems that liability could be imposed on folks who fail to report, say, pictures of children playing at the beach. And, while hentai is not to my tastes….well, how do you test the age of a cartoon character?

You know the legal notices posted in hotel rooms which list information including a notice of a limitation on innkeeper liability, or the maximum rate that can be charged for the room? I can just imagine a notice being added, requiring husbands traveling on business to not receive email pictures of their wives in schoolgirl outfits because of a bill like this one.