TheTrenchcoat Chronicles

Tag: john-mccain

  • 2007 SAFE Act

    Senator to propose surveillance of illegal images:

    Senators McCain and Schumer are at it again. Not being happy with trying to legislate MySpace they’re now trying to force ISP’s and websites that have any kind of user base to notify the authorities of any illegal images of real or “cartoon” minors. It’s called the Securing Adolescents from Exploitation-Online Act otherwise known as the 2007 SAFE Act. Because as I’ve mentioned before no legislation works unless it has a catchy acronym. Now don’t get me wrong. I am in no way defending child pornographers. However, I think this proposed law would do more harm than good and will be almost impossible to enforce. Not only that but the bill only offers suggestions and doesn’t offer any solutions about how the ISP’s should handle these issues…

    Details on how the system would work are missing from McCain’s legislation and are left to the center and ISPs. But one method would include ISPs automatically scanning e-mail and instant messaging attachments and flagging any matches.

    Wow, that doesn’t sound like government intrusion doesn’t it? Not only that but the cost passed on to ISP’s would be astronomical and would more than likely be passed on the consumer. Existing laws regarding child pornography are sufficient. Extra legislation is not going to make them go away overnight and will only get innocent people in trouble. We’ve already heard stories of people being arrested for taking innocent pictures of their own children. If this law is passed there will be more of that.

    Thanks to Aaron for the link.

  • Video Game Violence

    Video Game Violence

    So my friends at The Washington Post are at it again. No, it’s not about me this time, but you’ll see the connection if you’ve been reading this site. (Yeah, right.)

    I read an article run in the daily newspaper that was run in the Post on 8/12/2000. The article was an opinion piece about how video game manufacturers are marketing their merchandising for M rated video games towards pre-schoolers. Now I thought it was just another article saying that the government should be the watchers of our children and not the parents until I saw this quote concerning ratings…

    “More concretely, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) have introduced a Uniform Ratings Bill and are planning to hold hearings on it after the FTC report comes out. This bill would mandate an end to the current hodgepodge of rating systems and require that Hollywood, the video game industry, and music industry work together to create a single rating system. If the industries fail to come up with such a system, the FTC would be authorized to establish one.”

    Notice a familiar name in there? That’s right kiddies. Our fair senator from Connecticut is not only concerned about pro-wrestling, but he seems to be meddling in the affairs of one of my other loves, video games.

    Again, I say it is the parents’ responsibility to know what games your children are playing. Just like you should know what TV shows they’re watching. No excuses. And don’t give me any crap about how you’re too busy. You should always have time for your kids.