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This is another one of those "order paper" bills that disappears at the end of the session. That it is only coming out in March means that it is EXTREMELY unlikely to even get a decent reading, as congress will close for the season soon enough so that the mid term people can go off and try to get re-elected.
This is the sort of thing that these two dillweed politicians can use in their campaign ads in the future - "brought forward legislation to protect children from harm on the internet" or some shit like that. It is VERY important for democrats in conservative areas to have this sort of thing in their pockets to show that they are "trying hard" to the church going bible thumpers.
It should also be noted that literally hundreds of pieces of legislation get "introduced" each year and then promptly die on the order paper because there is little or no real support or desire to move such an act forward. At this point, I was unable to the S number for this document, and unable to find anything like it in the congressional register, so it is likely just a trial balloon deal.
It would also be something that would be directly subject to first amendment challenges, as it would limit permitted free speech, and would allow third parties (such as ISPs or other common carriers) to block .XXX material because they do not agree with it, moving the internet porn business into a ghetto that could easily be blocked and sealed off.
Imagine for a minute that say there is a christian backbone provider, owned by, I dunno, a company out of salt Lake City or Mississippi or something, and they decide that they will not carry traffic for any IP that resolves to a .XXX domain. Perhaps they will not carry traffic to any network that has .XXX domains on it.
Suddenly, huge parts of the internet are effectively blackholed.
Christian groups would likely form the "Good parents IP block list" and distribute it free of charge to any ISP or backbone provider that was interested.
Free speech suddenly gets limited.
Not good.
Alex
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