Representative wants free, porn-less Internet for all

Disappointed with the predictability of the victors in the recent spectrum auction, which saw AT&T and Verizon walking away with 70% of the up-for-grabs airwaves, Representative Anna G. Eshoo (Gesundheit! Wokka wokka!) wants the FCC to auction off the 2155-2175Mhz band. The catch?

The winner would have to use the spectrum to create a nationwide wireless Internet service that is available to the public at no cost, automatically blocks access to pornographic content, and is fully open to third-party device manufacturers.

"Automatic blocking of pornographic content?" Pass the magic jaybone, lady. Even eliminating the technical impossibility of automatic porn blocking, if our recent Rule 34 Challenge proved anything, it is that there is nothing under the sun that isn't porn for someone.

Lawmaker calls for no-cost, porn-free, wireless 'Net access [Ars Technica]

[#1 posted by Jake0748 , April 21, 2008 10:52 AM]

I, for one, will eschew Ms Eshoo's idea.

[#2 posted by ccreitz , April 21, 2008 3:00 PM]

So predictable. Representative Eshoo is bravely leading the charge to the nanny state, and somehow, in the second-richest congressional district in America, the Republican party has been unable to find so much as a challenger.

Single party state ftw.

[#3 posted by claud9999 , April 21, 2008 11:24 PM]

Note where Eshoo's district is: the heart of Silicon Valley and where Google, Microsoft, Verisign, etc. have major offices and/or headquarters. Does she represent the bulk of her constituents in this statement, not at all likely. Is she representing some companies whose business would be providing the technology to do the networking or the filtering? Likely. (Partial disclosure: I work in her district and I have yet to be impressed by her.)

http://www.house.gov/formeshoo/zipauth.html

[#4 posted by shaggy35 , April 22, 2008 8:49 AM]

I don't even see how this would be good for her constituents (or for anyone at all).

It's essentially asking companies to spend billions of dollars in an auction for a bandwidth that they're NOT ALLOWED to make money off of (because it has to be free.)

Blocking porn makes it even worse - you're eliminating one of the largest money makers on the internet.

How does someone like this even get elected? (I always find myself asking that question)