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December 7, 2007
Will SAFE Force You to Packet Sniff Your Open WAP? Well ...
Declan McCullagh:
"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.
"That broad definition would cover individuals, coffee shops, libraries, hotels, and even some government agencies that provide Wi-Fi. It also sweeps in social-networking sites, domain name registrars, Internet service providers, and e-mail service providers such as Hotmail and Gmail, and it may require that the complete contents of the user's account be retained for subsequent police inspection."
The representative behind the bill responded, saying McCullagh's "broad definition" was overbroad, seeing as it hinges on the idea that by having a WAP in my office, I've become an ISP.
McCullagh does raise a good point, though:
"The definition of which images qualify as illegal is expansive. It includes obvious child pornography, meaning photographs and videos of children being molested. It also includes photographs of fully clothed minors in unlawfully 'lascivious' poses, and certain obscene visual depictions including a 'drawing, cartoon, sculpture, or painting.'"
...
"Most reasonable adults, including home Wi-Fi providers or the Web sites affected by this legislation, can figure out what actual child pornography is. But when it comes to photographs of fully clothed minors in 'lascivious' poses, and overly risque cartoon anime that might be 'obscene' in one area of the country and permissible in another, it becomes trickier--especially when, legally, only a jury can determine whether an image violates local community standards."
Ars Technica says "don't start searching the skies for the black helicopters yet."
SAFE Act won't turn mom-and-pop shops into WiFi cops:
"WiFi isn't mentioned in the bill. Neither are coffee shops, libraries, or individuals running access points in their basements. The bill's provisions apply to anyone 'engaged in providing an electronic communication service or a remote computing service to the public through a facility or means of interstate or foreign commerce.' Parse that as you will."
"I contacted the office of Rep. Nick Lampson (D-TX), who introduced the bill, to see whether he understood it to cover hundreds of thousands of Americans and small businesses who offer WiFi. A spokesperson told me that, in his view, that broad interpretation was incorrect, but he had to check in with policy staffers before confirming it. We did not hear back by press time."
"Whatever the bill applies to, though, the law is quite clear that those who offer Internet access don't have to do any additional monitoring. There are no 'restrictions' on their services. The bill updates an already-existing notifcation requirement and stiffens the penalties, but only for those presented with clear evidence of child porn who make a 'knowing and willful failure' to report it."
Posted by mhall at 4:44 PM | Add Comment
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