It's not clear to me whether this would include links to pages with illegal content. This would make a crazy requirement even more crazy -- you'd have to follow every link submitted to your site to make sure the content was legit. What is clear is that it would apply to comments on blogs.
CNET News.com:
Internet service providers already must follow those reporting requirements. But McCain's proposal is liable to be controversial because it levies the same regulatory scheme--and even stiffer penalties--on even individual bloggers who offer discussion areas on their Web sites.
"I am concerned that there is a slippery slope here," said Kevin Bankston, an attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation in San Francisco. "Once you start creating categories of industries that must report suspicious or criminal behavior, when does that stop?"
According to CNET, "McCain's proposal, called the "Stop the Online Exploitation of Our Children Act," requires that reports be submitted to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which in turn will forward them to the relevant police agency," and a "Web site must retain any 'information relating to the facts or circumstances' of the incident for at least six months. Webmasters would be immune from civil and criminal liability if they followed the specified procedures exactly."
CNET also noted that "McCain scored 31 of 100 points on a News.com 2006 election guide scoring technology-related votes."
McCain has been shifting to the right in order to appeal to religious conservatives in his presidential race. This is just the sort of 'pro-family' crap they love -- harsh, poorly thought out, and totally unworkable. Republicans are against big government -- except when they're for it. Let's hope this goes nowhere.
Tags: news | politics | Internet | blogs | republican | 2008 | elections | religious right | John McCain
