Porn illegal in Utah

[HangFire]

http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?s...tid=103&tid=17


This new law forces ISPs there to blacklist all sites dictated by their government that are "harmful to minors". Also, content providers that host sites for profit in Utah, USA, must rate their sites, or face criminal charges.


All I have to say about this, is "yikes". I thought that China was the only country whose government would stoop to something like this, but now the US is going that way.

People who don't understand the internet shouldn't be creating laws for it.

[Pierre-Marie Baty]

amazing. And well said for your last sentence.

BTW, isn't Utah the home of the mormons ? or do I confuse...

*edit* checked it, righto. Anyway, there's a m that screams for being skipped in that name.

[TruB]

i know guy from utah.. and he is a mormon..
so i guess that is pretty true..

i dont really mind it... since i dont use it..

[Whistler]

looks like China isn't the only one who block sites on the net as I thought...
however their gov. are still slightly better than ours as ours has not only banned porn site, but also banned quite a lot of useful sites like geocities.com. the site of Free Software Foundation France (http://www.fsffrance.org) is also in their blacklist and non-accessable here (I know little french so I can't understand why they blocked it )

PS, here is a good site which allows you circumance site blocking...
http://anonymouse.ws
and if they uses packet filtering...
https://www.the-cloak.com

[Leagle]

Originally Posted by HangFire

". I thought that China was the only country whose government would stoop to something like this, but now the US is going that way.
.

I would laugh, but...

This is exactly the sort of thing we expect from the states. Doesn't suprise me one bit.9_9

If you live in Utah, bad luck.


(edit) The rating thing is... dodgy, but I'll point out here that they have to block sites if requested only -of course, how many people they block it to... I see "my rights" lawsuits coming.

[HangFire]

It'll probably eventually be gotten rid of, after lenthy and costly legal battles with IPSs and citizens. According to the article similar laws were put into place in other states, but they were eventually gotten rid of at a huge cost to people. Why don't intelligent people ever become politicians?


@Whistler
I always knew that there was a way to get past the Great Firewall of China. I'm going to keep those two sites, I might end up needing them one day, but I hope not.

[@$3.1415rin]

back to topic

is porn really illegal in utah or do they just wanna 'disable' the internet sites ?

[Pierre-Marie Baty]

As far as I understood, they only restricted the access. I'm not sure a lawsuit would be filled if ever someone was caught surfing on pr0n.

Originally Posted by Hangie

Why don't intelligent people ever become politicians?

why, wanna apply ?

[TruB]

the intelligent people is the ones you dont see.. and they are to intelligen for there own good.. they get cuppupted by greed so they work for money and power..

waling eagle is just puppet those who is pulling the strings is the ones that are waving the money who financed his trip the to the white house..

imo ofcourse..

[HangFire]

Originally Posted by Pmb

As far as I understood, they only restricted the access. I'm not sure a lawsuit would be filled if ever someone was caught surfing on pr0n.

They can surf porn, just as long as the porn site isn't on the blacklist. Considering how large the infrastructure of pornography is on the internet, they'll probably be only able to barely scrape the surface with the blacklist.

What sites are blacklisted is up to the Utah government. Also, there won't be any lawsuits for getting caught on a blacklisted site, simply because the ISPs will be blocking them.

Of course this blacklisting could always be curcumvented by using a service such as the two that Whiler pointed out, but I have no idea what sort of penalty they would be hit with if they were caught.

Someone could always read the boring thing, but it doesn't really matter because we probably don't have any Utahians here at BU.


Edit:

I read some of it. I've taken out some highlights, and used my masterful (pitiful) legal skills to sum things up. Some thing bolded for easy readin's.


122 76-10-1204. Distributing pornographic material.
123 (1) A person is guilty of distributing pornographic material when he knowingly:
124 (a) sends or brings any pornographic material into the state with intent to distribute or
125 exhibit it to others;
126 (b) prepares, publishes, prints, or possesses any pornographic material with intent to
127 distribute or exhibit it to others;
128 (c) distributes or offers to distribute, exhibits or offers to exhibit any pornographic
129 material to others;
130 (d) writes, creates, or solicits the publication or advertising of pornographic material;
131 (e) promotes the distribution or exhibition of material he represents to be pornographic;
132 or
133 (f) presents or directs a pornographic performance in any public place or any place
134 exposed to public view or participates in that portion of the performance which makes it
135 pornographic.
136 (2) Each distributing of pornographic material as defined in Subsection (1) is a separate
137 offense.
138 (3) It is a separate offense under this section for:
139 (a) each day's exhibition of any pornographic motion picture film; and
140 (b) each day in which any pornographic publication is displayed or exhibited in a
141 public place with intent to distribute or exhibit it to others.


So... Basically, porn is illegal. People can't distribute it in any way in Utah. Punishable by:


149 (4) (a) An offense under this section is a third degree felony punishable by:
150 (i) a minimum mandatory fine of not less than $1,000 plus $10 for each article
151 exhibited up to the maximum allowed by law; and [by]
152 (ii) incarceration, without suspension of sentence in any way, for a term of not less than
153 30 days.


Also, for obtaining it:


158 76-10-1205. Inducing acceptance of pornographic material.
159 (1) A person is guilty of inducing acceptance of pornographic material when he
160 knowingly:
161 (a) requires or demands as a condition to a sale, allocation, consignment, or delivery
162 for resale of any newspaper, magazine, periodical, book, publication, or other merchandise that
163 the purchaser or consignee receive any pornographic material or material reasonably believed
164 by the purchaser or consignee to be pornographic; or
165 (b) denies, revokes, or threatens to deny or revoke a franchise, or to impose any
166 penalty, financial or otherwise, because of the failure or refusal to accept pornographic material
167 or material reasonably believed by the purchaser or consignee to be pornographic.




Also, it says that this new bill is going to cost taxpayers there $250,000 USD. From what I see, most of the rest is defining terms, legal gibberish, and other things such as penalties for repeat offences. Also more specific things such as the internet blacklist, and such.


So.. from my interpretation, this bill makes all pr0n illegal, not just a few sites on the internet. That is ridiculous. I'm still not 100% sure if I read this all correctly, but from what I see this is what the bill does.

Also I don't have very much knowledge of US legal system, so I don't know if people have to oblidge by this thing yet. From what I do know is that Utah's governor has signed it, so I think its passed.


Feel free to re-asses the thing, because I very well could have mis-interpreted things in it.