Arizona Rep. Gail Griffin has proposed frightening legislation in the new House Bill 2444. Should the bill pass, it would authorize and enforce the use os software that would censor any material on the internet that the state found “obscene.”
The bill would require that no device that can access the internet could be made, sold, leased or otherwise distributed in the state unless it had the controlling software.
Fox 4 reports that anyone who wished to deactivate the program would have several hoops to jump through. Individuals would be forced to petition the maker of the device, provide current ID proving an age of at least 18 and pay a fee with other requirements possible in the future.
The bill is currently being proposed as a means to tax and prohibit the use of pornography on the internet, but many have already pointed out the problem with government deciding what is or is not “obscene.”
What’s more is that under the bill anyone seeking to remove or circumvent the software would be perpetrating a crime and subject to prosecution.
Hopefully voters in Arizona are paying attention, it wouldn’t hurt to have read 1984 either.
Freedom of speech? What is next?