McCain wants blogs to censor their comments…
…or face a huge fine.
Think Progress is reporting that McCain is sponsoring a bill that stipulates:
- Commercial websites and personal blogs “would be required to report illegal images or videos posted by their users or pay fines of up to $300,000.“
- Internet service providers (ISPs) are already required to issue such reports, but under McCain’s legislation, bloggers with comment sections may face “even stiffer penalties“ than ISPs.
- Social networking sites will be forced to take “effective measures“ — such as deleting user profiles — to remove any website that is “associated“ with a sex offender. Sites may include not only Facebook and MySpace, but also Amazon.com, which permits author profiles and personal lists, and blogs like DailyKos, which allows users to sign up for personal diaries.
I’m no fan of censorship, and moreso no fan of fining folks for the actions of others (I don’t want a fine because I don’t delete a comment left by some child porn promoter, though I’d delete it anyway). Think Progress reports, though, that McCain had no evidence that blog comments were victimizing children, and that his bill is largely fear-based.
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