EckerNet.Com

In an incredible display of stupidity, the House managed to top themselves….and they did it virtually unanimously so everyone gets the blame here.

The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday overwhelmingly approved a bill saying that anyone offering an open Wi-Fi connection to the public must report illegal images including “obscene” cartoons and drawings–or face fines of up to $300,000.

Wednesday’s vote caught Internet companies by surprise: the Democratic leadership rushed the SAFE Act to the floor under a procedure that’s supposed to be reserved for noncontroversial legislation. It was introduced October 10, but has never received even one hearing or committee vote. In addition, the legislation approved this week has changed substantially since the earlier version and was not available for public review.

I hate this type of politics. And in the age of television and the internet, I’m not even sure why this type of action is even legal. There is very little that Congress does…..actually I could stop right there. There is very little that Congress does that couldn’t wait for say two days to allow the public to give input to their elected officials.

However, even regardless of the manner in which this was passed, this shows complete and utter ignorance about how Wi-Fi works. Or at least if you want to make this type of law even remotely enforceable. To a Wi-Fi provider, all they see is an endless stream of nonsensical packets streaming by, destination almost unknown. I’m not sure how they intend this to have even the most remote impact.

So either we just rushed through a pointless law that will probably be abused in the worst ways possible. Or we just completely killed any public WiFi access point, destroyed part of the appeal of countless restaurants/coffeeshops/bars and put an undue burden on place like public libraries.

I don’t care where this circus train is going, but I want off.