Rep. Daw, I was really discouraged to find your name attached to HB 139.
The bill does virtually nothing to protect children and does so much to damage Utah's ability to compete as a state which encourages technical innovation. We've seen time and time again that age verification doesn't work. It's reminiscent of the disaster COPA was. COPA established a Commission on Online Child Protection which released the following statement as a part of their report: “This system’s limitations include the fact that some children have access to credit cards, and it is unclear how this system would apply to sites outside the U.S. It [age-based credit card verification] is not effective at blocking access to chat, newsgroups, or instant messaging.” Nor would it be effective in any plan to block access by minors to free and open WiFi. I'm deeply concerned that in your effort to protect children, you're creating a walled garden for free and open Internet access while at the same time, falsely leading parents into a sense of security about the safety of their children online. As I've argued before, a better alternative to this approach would be to encourage the AG's office to increase their sponsorship of programs that teach children how to use the Internet safely and responsibly. I am cc:'ing several technical mailing lists in this letter. I believe that if you reach out to these groups and work with them in the spirit of helping to educate children instead of simply hampering open Internet access that you'll find a smart and capable community willing to work with you. I urge you to make overtures toward these groups and to refocus your efforts toward developing youth programs aimed at education instead of broadly targeted, ineffective legislation. Working together we can create a very effective educational network and truly help children stay safe. Best, -Michael Place [EMAIL PROTECTED] /* PLUG: http://plug.org, #utah on irc.freenode.net Unsubscribe: http://plug.org/mailman/options/plug Don't fear the penguin. */
