[Platt]
Comment: Another step taken by the Left on the road to serfdom.
[Arlo]
Amnesty International is moving to take action against this
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6724531.stm). Since Amnesty
International is a "leftist" organization, I took a step to see who
is behind the "internet filter initiative". It appears that business
(Google, Microsoft and Yahoo) are part of the impetus to set up this
filter. The origins of this initiative appear to be Child Online
Protection Act (COPA), which was sponsored and pushed by Republicans
in Congress during the 1990s (Clinton signed it into law).
The Childrens Internet Protection Act (also signed into law by
Clinton) was also sponsored and pushed by Congressional Republicans,
including Sen. John McCain. The ACLU (a "leftist" organization) has
moved to challenge these acts. ("The legislation is drawn from
proposals by three Republicans, Senators John McCain (R) of Arizona
and Rick Santorum (R) of Pennsylvania and Representative Ernest
Istook (R) of Oklahoma." Note: Istook is a "Distinguished Fellow"
with "The Heritage Foundation", a strong conservative organization)
Another Act, sponsored and backed by Republican Orin Hatch (PROTECT:
Prosecutorial Remedies and Tools Against the Exploitation of Children
Today Act) was signed into law in 2003 by President Bush. Another,
COPPA: Child Obscenity and Pornography Prevention Act, was sponsored
once again by Republicans under Clinton (who signed it but was later
overturned by a "leftist" Supreme Court). This was rewritten by
Republican Lamar Smith and then included in the aforementioned
PROTECT Act (which was, again, passed by Bush).
The Net Filter is backed strongly in Australia by conservative
organization Family First ("Family First Senator Steve Fielding wants
hardcore pornography and fetish material blocked under the
Government's plans to filter the internet, sparking renewed fears the
censorship could be expanded well beyond "illegal material".") In
America, conservative organizations like Focus on the Family have
repeatedly moved to include "pro-abortion" sites in pornography
filtering initiatives.
Back in America, two conservative Republicans (Goodlatte (R-VA) and
Sen. Kyl (R-AZ)) have been behind initiatives to censor online
gambling sites. "Leftist" groups, such as the Electronic Frontier
Foundation (http://www.eff.org/) continue to monitor and challenge
threats to online freedoms and access to information. For a good
overview of this history of censorship in America, take a look at the
Wikipedia entry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship_in_the_United_States).
Saying all this is "steps by the Left" is simply inane (to put it
kindly), but I suppose its more important to blame "them evil libs"
for everything than it is to actually learn the facts.
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