Comments on: Senator to propose surveillance of illegal images

Proposal from Sen. John McCain would force Internet providers to report illegal images, even "cartoons."

[NerdPatrolAJ]

Innocent offenders?

What about the the thousands of infected PCs with hidden folders serving illegal websites? This is commonplace in a world where people have been suckered by anti-virus solutions like Norton's and McAfee that claim to offer protection, but in reality do not. These poor schmucks do not even know these files exist or are even possible, but does that indemnify them from this law?

[NerdPatrolAJ]

Sorry for double post

Mea Culpa

[zealot144]

Cyber privacy

The government prohibits the inspection of ordinary mail in sealed envelopes. It takes a court order or (since the Patriot Act) at least suspicion or probable cause, to tap a phone line or eavesdrop on wireless phone calls. Am I right? Why do governments treat e-mail any differently? Why do IM's not deserve the same privacy protection? It is as yhough some legal type decided that everything on the internet is equal to a conversation in a cafe...it's OK to listen in, since you are in a public place. Why is mail private but the internet is public?

[ComputerUser1024]

Email is not private

You never know who could be intercepting your email or reading it as it goes unencrypted across the internet, it could be intercepted anyplace along the path. Thus why you should not send personal information and passwords through email or through an internet messaging program such as Yahoo or ICQ.

[smlinde]

yet another reason to vote...

...for ANYONE but a republican!

Please help vote ALL these morons out of office before they finish destroying our country. As for the idiots that actually think this kind of tripe is a good thing, you need to be voted off the island too. If you want to live like that then go to a muslim run country, they appreciate censorship and destruction of anything that shines a light on their so called "values" (the one thing they have in common with christians). Remember that evil can't bear to be seen in the light of day (or reason).

[ComputerUser1024]

voting....

voting for anyone but a Republican is also going to get you in trouble. I have heard say that both are just two sides of the same coin. Maybe it is best to keep the sides divided as in having a largely Democratic congress / Senate when we have a Republican President or having a Republic Congress and Senate while we have a Democratic President so the one side will put checks and balances on the other. These political parties are extremes in different directions.

[527nrhpd]

You must be joking?

I guess you didn't read that the most avowed facist (at least when it comes to true personal freedom), Charles Schumer of NY, was the co-sponsor? Hello, Hillary's best buddy in the Senate? Problem with the damn liberals is that they smoked too much dope and cannot read worth a crap anymore. I do not like the situation in Iraq any more than the next person, but claiming that this is ALL the Republicans fault makes you far more moronic than the idea that this will work.

[alphtoo]

Wrong Answer!

"...for ANYONE but a republican!" Sorry to break this to you, smlinde, but if you think the democritters are any better you haven't been paying attention for the past half century. If you would like to see the restoration of our Constitution in your lifetime neither mainstream republicrats or democritters offer any hope. Check out Ron Paul or Tom Tancredo. They are both looking to run as republicans, but before you tar them with the same brush as the rest of these idiots look at their voting records. I won't vote for anyone who has shown contempt for the Constitution they have sworn to uphold, and if you care about our survival as a free nation, you won't either.

[mrchaos101]

No Go

While they need to nail these guys, I DONT WANT my isp watching every move i make using the excuses that they are monitoring for kid porn.

I don't want to be frisked every time I walk out of my house by the police saying, we are just making sure you don't have drugs either.

While these people need to be put in jail, they need to do it with out affecting the rest of us.

I dont like BIG BROTHER.

[mrchaos101]

lies

this is a hunk of lies if i ever heard one!

[codemonkeyoverlord]

The system is not going to work

Anyone ever heard of or know anything about hash algorithms? It's going to be very difficult for them to come close enough to be using useful because there are so many things that can be done to trick these systems. I wrote an explanation of that here a while ago: http://www.codemonkeyramblings.com/2006/07/yet_another_ineffective_way_to.php

All they would have to do to get around that would be to do some changes like pass it through a few minor filters like a resize, change the brightness a little and maybe alter some of the colors slightly. Hell, just changing the file format could be enough if the system is not incredibly sophisticated at examining the relationships between the pixel arrangements represented in the data.

[peakoil76]

fascist

Fascism is fascism and it doesn't matter whether the person doing it is a muslim, Hitler, a christian or a Senator. This type of legislation is the definition of fascism, and the American people better start waking up. The American dream is turning into the American nightmare!!

[protagonistic]

RE: Senator to propose surveillance of illegal images

Apparently our legislative "Idiots" have never heard of encryption.

[ahzzmandius]

go do something worthwhile mccain...

I host websites and I do NOT have the resources to be DRAFTED into your neo-evangelical christian morality squad.

Law enforcement and investigation is the realm of the government, NOT companies. Obviously if I stumble across something that's illegal I'll report it. But I am NOT goign to spend my time trolling through all of my customer's websites (in violation of their rights I believe) just so the morality squad doesnt' have to spend the money on doing it themselves.

This would be a violation of MY constitutional rights in the area of undue duress and forced seizure without compensation of MY TIME.

Obvious disclaimer: I am not a lawyer, so I may be wrong, but hey, this is what i see my righs as being.

[ShadowGryphon]

WHOA!

Hey now, don't drag Christians into this.

No mention was made, in -any- way, that any christian group was involved with this.
I am a Christian, and I oppose this "law" (I dare ya to call it that with a straight face).
Should kiddie porn be eliminated ? most certainly, but to write a law so broad that basically leaves the definition of -what- kiddie porn is up to some random dink with a chip on his/her shoulder, is just begging for a kick in the teeth.

And to back up a comment made earlier, yes, the dems and cons -are- the same..... there is no real difference anymore between the two....... it's all about power and money and denying us of both.

Sorry ahzzmandius, but please don't lump in a whole group of people because you have some gripe with them.

Btw, if this worries you, heh heh heh, you'll -love- whats coming in 2008.

[six6sixwitch]

I Propose a Bill to Outlaw Idiotic Lawmakers

No ISP has EVER been accused of aiding in the propagation of child pornagraphy, so WHAT exactly is the purpose of this bill besides congressional Grandstanding in a year before a presidential election?

I even suspect the term "illegal images" will be expanded to include things OTHER than sexual images, say, pictures of dead soldiers coming home?


Not to belittle child exploitation, but I think more people are being killed in the war that was started for no good f*cking reason than any child pornography on the web...but WHO GIVES A DAMN about THAT anyway?

Hey, let's not put any legislative energy into anything useful...

[527nrhpd]

In that case, the list would have to include....

Bill Clinton...Rhodes Scholar or not, getting off in the Oval Office and then getting nabbed by the "blue dress" qualifies as idiotic.

Charles Schumer (one of the apparent sponsors, so I guess this fits your post!)...hates the whole idea of being able to protect yourself, even in your own home, and thinks only his special "militia" should have guns. He needs to learn to read without his Brady coalition goggles on so he can read the Federalist papers and the Constitution and some other good history books from the 18th century so he truly understands what was a militia in the minds of the Founding Fathers and leaves the 2nd Amendment (mostly) alone. I'm all for criminals spending their lives in jail IF they use a gun in a crime. However, since the mere fact that they are CRIMINALS implies that they already care less about the law, much less the moronic Chuck Schumer's stupid anti-freedom laws anyway and will just take the chance to rob, rape, and kill more people.

Next on my list would be any of the fools like Ney, Cunningham, Delay, etc. who are too stupid to wait to get paid for their actions until AFTER they get out of office and are out of the spotlight...not that I condone their illegal activities...on the contrary, I think they should all spend a LONG time in jail. I was merely commenting on their idiocy that got them caught. Plain old greed is bad enough, but insatiable greed with no ability to delay (not really a pun intended there) gratification does not bode well for one's intelligence. (See, I'm equal opportunity...I'll hammer anyone who's an idiot, Republican or Democrat).

Next up is the California twins, Feinstein and Boxer. Never have two women tried so hard to stomp out personal freedom. Feinstein was back in power with her fellow Dems what 3 hours when she tried throwing the Hollywood movie / music crowds a freebie with her anti-XM / Sirius / any other satellite radio bill? How blatant of a suckup can one be? Boxer has a terrible record and I don't think has ever seen a bill that had the word "guns" and "more jail time" in it that she did not vote for, although, I guess she would vote against one that named the next idiot on my list....

Ray Nagin of New Orleans...dude, how much of a stupid, insensitive A**HOLE can you be? People are getting robbed by gang members, but you and the idiots that are your very corrupt and moronic police administrators decide that anyone with a gun gets it confiscated? Hello, see my comments on Schumer...have you EVER read the 2nd and 4th Amendments? I guess not...and under what state law can a mayor declare martial law? I doubt even the back-a**wards Louisiana laws are that bad. The man needs to be in jail, but showing how dumb the people of New Orleans are, they not only re-elected him, but are moving BACK BELOW SEA LEVEL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What part of water 8 feet deep in your houses did you NOT get? I moderately felt sorry for New Orleans after Katrina, but no longer. I think we should take all of our Federal tax dollars out of there and let the Gulf of Mexico do as it wishes. It would be a far better use of Federal money to build a WHOLE new city ABOVE sea level than to spend ANY money rebuilding that subterranean sewage dump.

I guess I'll stop my rant now...just don't start a post that is one sided. If you are going to say Bush is stupid (I can live with that...) or McCain (though I disagree on his part), fine, but do not discriminate...freely hate on all the idiots.

[nonaste]

McCain is a ho, no offense to the profession

amen, brother.

[thomasdosborneii]

Criminal Lawmakers

I think it should be a crime to propose unconstitutional
legislation.

[lrinc1]

Where has freedom Gone

I thought wire taps were illegal isn't this the same thing?

[whooliebacon]

McCain

We need to apply some rules to the US Senate. Number one: an age limit. Probably 48. When you have someone like McCain who is near 70, technology seems to be something that is beyond someone in a generation that still has a 45 rpm record player at their home. They have no concept of the internet other than it is not faith based so its gotta be bad. Two. Good old boys. Term limits 6 for the house and two for the Senate. Three: detailed and watched financial activities of each of these Senators. Every financial detail of their life must be watched and made public. They must be watched and watched and watched. When they have no privacy, maybe they will finally get it. and four: if the make a decision to run for President they must resign from the Senate. They cannot hold public office and run for President at the same time.

[alphtoo]

Rules

"Number one: an age limit. Probably 48." Now hold on thar, ya young whippersnapper! Not all us olpharts are brain-damaged, some of us are still pretty bright. McCain just can't count himself among our number. As for your other suggestions I must say they have merit. Maybe you should consider running for office before you get too old and your music collection becomes outdated. <toothless grin>

[mrobzo]

Treason! John McCain.

Our Fore Fathers would have this criminal who is against Freedom of the people, hanged for even suggesting this direct violation of the Peoples Rights as defined in the Constitution. An indictment is in order here!

[aabcdefghij987654321]

Our forefathers...

would have hunted down and executed every last one of these filthy child pornographers.

[normlguyaz]

Law makers need to fix their flawed laws before making more laws

I never find it surprising that law makers believe that they're sole job is to continue to make new laws.Here's a thought how about no new laws until they fix all of the bad/flawed laws they have already spewed upon the people so far.Like illegal wire tapping,withdrawl of federal assistance to the states for the poor,lack of funding for schools?
The fact that these hard to get rid of criminals in congress(and yes I said criminals,like the ones who just drop out and resign instead of being prosecuted)who are given carte blanche over we the people,supossedly by the people.This to me is just another way that the buerocrats in Washington use to divert our attention away from us looking at what they're really doing to this nation a lil closer,here and abroad.
It's time to succeed and clean house,this unfortunetly is the only way left.I'm sure that even these statements I've made, will be prosecutable soon.

[chash360]

You would think

Yes, you would think that a governement would at some point reach an apex where all the neccessary laws for governing that country have been written. You would think there would be some review process in all legislative bodies to go over existing laws to to confirm or deny it's continued relavence. Quite often you hear about these laws still on the books, absurd things like women not allowed to drink coffe after 6PM, etc. It pathectic these types of laws get passed, and whats worse is there is no regular process in place to get rid of them.
We have all been thinking about it with the internet, a way to allow the poeple to directly come to concensous, write and vote upon laws using the Internet. A way for every single view to be heard, every detail hashed out, and every law can be reviewed. All using the massive parallel thinking power of the people (much like this forum) to fix these things. Yes you would think we would do that, now that the technology exists. The only reason we have the structure of governemnt we have now with representatives and senators is when this country was established there was no idea that you could actually have all of the people (that wished too) represent themselves in the legislative process. But now we have the technology, we have the know how, whats stopping us? Power to the people!

[alphtoo]

Yes, but...

try to find in the US Constitution a provision for federal assistance to the states for the poor, or funding for schools, etc. That kind of thinking is part of the problem! Those items are just a couple of unconstitutional 'nanny-state' things our elected socialist politicians managed to sell our parents and grandparents on, and amazingly we're still buying it. We can't seem to learn that the federal government is the grand master of inefficency. The more we require of it, the more inefficent it becomes, while its cost drives us all to the poorhouse. The only things we can reasonably expect of the federal government is that they secure and defend our borders (they're not), fight wars when we must (debatable), and levy taxes. This last they do reasonably well, for all the good it does us. So if you want them to fix the flawed laws, they should start by repealing every single law which fails to comport, in letter and in spirit, with our Constitution and Bill of Rights.

[ajbright]

I'll tell you what

when he can come back and tell us that everyone in Congress will resign for being a bunch of lying hypocrites then he can have a law that implicates totally innocent victims of malware.

Yet another example of some hypocritical idiot in Congress, which absolutely no idea who technology works, thinking he can make himself look good by proposing unworkable laws.

But think, what will happen to his new friends if such a bill became law. All those religious zealots he wants to hang out with would probably be its first victims.

I realise that with all the meth taking, gay prostitute using activities they normally engage in allows little time for browsing for child porn - but who knows? If they've been chatting with their Catholic buddies, they probably have a complete list of the sort of sites this bill pretends to go after.

[ralfthedog]

Better solution?

1. give prossicuters, and the judges significant leway in sentancing. If the person is caught, it is there first offence, pleads guilty and chooses to cooperate, give them a much smaller sentence.

2. Backtracing. part of there cooperation is helping the FBI track down the source they got the child porn from. Law inforcement needs to be able to work there way up the food chain.

3. The FBI and or the Center for Missing and Exploited Children needs to have a list of known child porn. When someone is caught with child porn on there computer, the FBI needs to be able to say in court that, "Yes, this is child porn. We know who the kid was, here are the parents who will testify in court that the kid was under age at the time."

Child porn is as evil as anything can get. People who trade/make it need to have a reasonable expectation that they will be caught and have a very bad time in jail. This can be done without breaking our civil rights.

[chash360]

Is a photograph of a crime, a crime in itself?

Kiddie-porn is certainly a very hot button, but I would think depriving our freedoms, and turning this into a facsist country is worse than a photograph of anything, even a photograph of a murder. Remember, any digital evidence can be produced or reproduced artificially, and flawlessly, and then uploaded to your computer remotely, invisibly, through all the security holes. Creates a great method for discrediting and arresting anyone who opposes you.

[Russbo50]

Running for office?????

John McCain has never attempted to report a case of CP. I run nochildporn.com and have tons of people contact me to figure out how its done. Even when you get it reported nothing will happen. Every now and then the feds will make an arrest and get their names in the paper. I have found the best bet is to track it down to a location and report locally. Local law enforcement wants to get these guys. Feds want headlines. We don't need yet one more toothless law. We need the ones we have enforced. Unfortunately the law will probably go through. Who wants to vote against protecting children.

[murkywater]

Question

The age of consent varies from country to country.

In my home country the age is 13. Pornography is a legal and very profitable business. During a trip home, I buy a porno-DVD where the participants are ages 13 and 28. Both the purchase and activities on the recording were legal in the originating country. I bring it back to the United States.

What now?

[alphtoo]

Age of Consent

Actually in the US age of consent varies from state to state, making it even more confusing. IANAL, however as I understand it, for the purpose of images posted on the Internet, federal law sets it at 18. Sooo, if you want to bring your DVD back to the US you should check the AOC in your state of destination to be sure you comply. And whatever you do, don't put it on the Internet!

[bobby_brady]

McCain is an idiot!

The only way these dumbchits get back in office is by redrawing their districts.

[R Me]

Does this mean

that I will no longer be able to display my copy of that cute graphic ad by coppertone that shows a hot little honey in a bikini with the bottom being pulled down by a cute little dog so you can see her illegally seductive cheek?

Does this mean I'm going to jail for a framed semi-antique hanging behind my wet-bar?

Its time to abolish our two party system and way of voting in favor of a method that evens the field for independents.