As I predicted, the feds are trying to use the threat of child porn to spy on our internet traffic, and open the door to censorship.
“US Senator Dianne Feinstein hopes to update President Barack Obama’s $838bn economic stimulus package so that American ISPs can deter child pornography, copyright infringement, and other unlawful activity by way of ‘reasonable network management.’ . . .
According to Public Knowledge, Feinstein’s network management amendment did not find a home in the stimulus bill that landed on the Senate floor. But lobbyists speaking with the Washington DC-based internet watchdog said that California’s senior Senator is now hoping to insert this language via conference committee – a House-Senate pow-wow were bill disputes are resolved.
‘This is the most backdoor of all the backdoor ways of doing things,’ Public Knowledge’s Art Brodsky told The Reg. ‘Conference committees are notorious for being the most opaque of all legislative processes.’ . . .
But the ‘network management’ bit sounds like ISP speak. As Art Brodsky and his colleagues pointed out, network management is used to manage networks – not filter content. Content filters are used to filter content. But American ISPs – particularly cable ISPs – will take any excuse they can find to throttle certain traffic.
And if they’re using copyright infringement and child porn as excuses, they’ll have to start sniffing packets. So, Feinstein’s amendment would also destroy net privacy – if there’s any out there.” (Read more from www.theregister.co.uk)
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