A new bill in Congress would require peer-to-peer companies to get parental permission before allowing minors to use their service. The belief is that this would help keep children from being exposed to pornography found on these networks.
Setting aside the curiousity as to why and how children are using P2P software without parents knowing about, this bill seems way overreaching. I think you could make a similar argument about a browser or Google. Kids can use those tools to stumble onto pornography. Why aren't those companies being required to get parental permission?
Boing Boing notes that the new title of the bill is To prohibit the distribution of peer-to-peer file trading software in interstate commerce. That's just great. A cynical look to the future can see a day where running Kazaa will be a form of civil disobedience.
Posted by Josh at July 25, 2003 11:32 PM | TrackBack