Thank god, more regulation
More worrying developments re: our “liberties” (such of them as remain). I saw the initial rumblings about this earlier today and thought about commenting, but decided “nah, there’s no way this will pass”. There I go, underestimating the power of fear on the hearts and minds of our appointed representatives.
What am I rambling about you may now (justifiably) be asking. This (House votes on Net porn), which I just saw on the CNET News feed. A snippet:
Pence’s amendment said that anyone who uses a misleading domain name to try to lure people into visiting an obscene Web site faces up to two years in prison … It applies to all domain names around the globe, even those in other countries and ending in suffixes such as .nl or .uk.
It’s not that I am in favor of misleading domain names (tho’ trying to get to the White House web-site the first time was an adventure, and may be an education for children on their usual relationship to the government), it’s that this vague and dangerous legislation is being passed under the guise of something relevant.
I recently got into an argument with a friend regarding the child-abduction alerts that are shown around the Bay Area with (very disturbing) regularity. After seeing three of them over the course of a few days I questioned whether these are all “stranger abductions”, or are some of these “parental abductions”. She wanted to know what I thought the difference was. I said that, basically, I don’t care about “parental abductions” (at this point I should definitely qualify the term, by “parental abduction” I am speaking of that stage in the divorce where Mommy decides Daddy shouldn’t ever see the kids again, and Daddy decides “f@#* that”, picks them up from school one day and does a runner). Unless the parent is violent, mentally unbalanced (to an unusual degree) or for some other reason a threat to the children (which is different from being a threat to our legal system) I don’t see how it’s any of my business. On the other hand, if I can help catch a “stranger abductor” I’m all for it. I can think of no more henious crime! My concern was that the “Amber Alert” system not be usurped by some blended system that both enforces the will of the courts and helps find “stranger abducted” children. One I consider of the highest importance, while the other (transferring possession of children from one parent to the other) is a job for the police and the courts.
My point? Just that this is more noise and fear-mongering in a time when that is really the last thing we need.