Operation Porno Storm
Above: Senator Stevens poses with troops in Iraq
Thought you’d heard the end of the war on porn? Thought the whole thing was just one big joke? Well, think again…
WASHINGTON–U.S. senators on Thursday blasted what they called an “explosion” in Internet pornography and threatened to enact new laws aimed at targeting sexually explicit Web sites.
At an afternoon hearing convened here by the Senate Commerce Committee, Chairman Ted Stevens, an Alaska Republican, lashed out at an adult entertainment industry representative, saying that the industry needs to take swift moves to devise a rating system and to clearly mark all its material as “adult only.”
“I think any adult producer would agree,” said Paul Cambria, counsel to the Adult Freedom Foundation, which represents companies offering “lawful adult-oriented entertainment.” It would just be a matter of organizing the industry, he added.
This might make sense… but that’s not all…
The US government is asking a judge to force Google to hand over data on searches performed by its users, arguing that it needs the information to determine how often users search for pornography.
A request has been filed under an internet child protection law that seeks to prevent minors from accessing websites containing adult material.
[…] Google declined to hand over the information last year because it considered the request to be “overreaching”. The refusal sparked this week’s lawsuit.
A report in the San José Mercury News stated that the government had asked for one million random web addresses as well as all search queries for a one-week period.
Other unnamed search engines have complied with the government’s request.
What do they need the stats for, so they can rally the troops and regroup to fight the war on porn? I’m so proud of Google for standing up to the oppressive anti-porn regime. It takes real guts to stand up to a bully this big… that’s for sure.
As for the US Government… well, the United States is a nation founded upon freedom of speech… and don’t you dare forget it. God help us all if the Republicans win the next election (sorry Em, you know I love you).
January 20th, 2006 at 5:58 pm
It certainly seems that Google stood up for their “don’t be evil” company slogan. The downside is that the Department of Justice asked a bunch of other search engines for their data and they complied.
http://www.boingboing.net/2006/01/19/_doj_search_requests.html
At least there is one search engine that stood up for us.
January 20th, 2006 at 6:48 pm
Oh god, I just read “Em’s” blog, don’t apologize.
January 20th, 2006 at 7:25 pm
Paul Cambria was said to be speaking on behalf of the online adult industry but he did not have all the facts and did not do a good job representing us. Most adults sites already use the ICRA system.
There is an excellent article on this here:
http://www.ynot.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=news_article&sid=10123
January 21st, 2006 at 2:16 pm
Have you learned nothing from me? You and Daniel there will be more than sorry if a Dem wins the next election and the US turns into hell on earth, buddy. But hey I love you too. As for Daniel well, don’t make Kitka punish you for picking on me!
January 23rd, 2006 at 11:13 am
By the way Daniel, great music.