Feature

Breakin' the Law!

Posted by aaron on July 28, 2006 2:03 PM

So we don't often get in to politics here on this site (we're united by home improvement, why ruin a good thing ) but sometimes the US government does things so silly we just have to say something.

According to an act passed today by the US House of Representatives, it could become illegal to access Houseblogs.net at your local library.

Huh? American tax dollars at work.

PS - On a more serious note if you haven't studied up on Net Neutrality you really should. If you ask us, the Interweb should stay unbiased so sites like this one aren't impacted because your service provider would 'prefer' that you visit something more in line with their own commercial interests.

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Posted by aaron on July 28, 2006 2:03 PM | Filed under Headlines: Trends

 

Comments

Why was it we bothered to fight the Nazis? It was something about the evils of fascism or some such nonsense, wasn't it? If we were just going adopt their legislation anyway, it seems like a real waste of effort in hindsight.

Posted by: julianappian at July 28, 2006 3:14 PM

Hmm... a quick read of the actual bill may alleviate some worries. It can be found here: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?c109:2:./temp/~c109z68UPK::

There is also a good summary of the bill at: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d109:HR05319:@@@D&summ2=m&

The defintions are quite specific and will become even more so when "social networking website" is defined by the FCC within 180 days of enactment of the law (assuming it passes the Senate and remains in the same form).

I have found (at least my) Senators & Reps to be a lot less clueless than we think they are on this topic.

Posted by: stuccohouse at July 28, 2006 6:11 PM

I wouldn't think that Houseblogs would be considered a "social networking sites and chat rooms", and it's only for schools and libraries. My office blocks access to mySpace and other such sites.

To me is seems that this house bill is backwards. Why prevent kids from accessing these sites from public areas? Shouldn't we be blocking the predators (adults) instead? "Hi I'm a sexual predator and I would like to access my Space."

The comments on the link are nice.

Posted by: Greg at August 1, 2006 11:18 AM

And here I was starting to think I was missing some discussion board where obscene & indecent materials were being shared along with sexual advances ;-)

In all seriousness though, if you are concerned about the Gov. hearing your thoughts on this, the bill has now been passed over to the Senate. It will first go to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. These Committees take public comment. You can either wait for an official hearing to be scheduled, or send your thoughts to members of the Committee. It is fairly easy. You want to reference the bill and your specific concerns w/ examples, and how (if possible) the woarding of the bill could be modified to accommodate your concerns. Of course, address them formally as "Senator." Be polite & direct.

Here is the leadership info. of the Senate Committee responsible for reviewing the passed House bill: The U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation is composed of 22 Senators and led by Committee Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) and Co-Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii). You can find their email addresses via their state websites or www.senate.gov

Now you know how to do something about it ;-)

Posted by: Stuccohouse at August 2, 2006 4:00 PM