John McCain's Internet & Blog Censorship Crusade (Wizbang Pop!)

He barely knows how to operate a computer himself, but that sure isn't stopping Senator John McCain from attempting to police free speech on the Internet. A new proposal by grandfather John McCain would hold Internet service providers responsible for $300,000 fines for any illegal material posted on blogs or websites. Further, it may force blogs to either censor opinions or else shut down. And it might even encourage some free blog and website providers such as Google which offers their free Blogspot service to rethink their free service, or to close it down. In the past, some ongoing problems with the free Yahoo Auctions forced the site to close down.

The elderly McCain is using children as a sort of human shield in his argument, claiming that children might be injured somehow. Yet his confounded and confused argument fails short on logic since many blogs deal with politics or some other matter, and aren't even widely read by children. So why hold up the child safety argument here? Kevin Bankston of the Electronic Freedom Foundation noted where McCain failed to offer up any evidence to support his absurd claims about an Internet threat to children from material posted on blogs. How are are any of the opinions or features posted anywhere on the Wizbang network harmful to kids, senator? Where's the beef?

McCain is currently collecting funds for a year 2010 re-election battle to the senate. McCain might just feel that kicking up a little dust is good publicity. However, this crazy proposal is only likely to anger many liberal and conservative bloggers alike. Blogs are being made the fall-guy for McCain's political campaign to attempt to be viewed as doing something and to make news, even if operating a computer is mostly outside of his own expertise. But it always seems as if it isn't the oldest and most out of touch politicians who always seek to regulate some new technology. New fangled products must frighten the old folks who write laws. McCain also isn't a lawyer as well, so he might not well understand communications law or the importance of the 1st Amendment.

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Comments (1)

John McCain has long had an... (Below threshold)

1. Posted by Chris | October 28, 2009 2:59 AM | Score: 1 (1 votes cast)

Chris:

John McCain has long had an issue with bloggers and there are even several videos floating around on YouTube where McCain jokes about he "hates the bloggers". The issue here certainly isn't the protection of children from internet content. It's the protection of John McCain from the criticism of political blogs. This law will never pass because it's every American's right to free speech as guaranteed by the first amendment. If someone posts something libelous or defamatory against another individual, then it's up to that individual to seek damages, but it certainly shouldn't be up to Congress to regulate an individual's right to post something on the internet. Thousands of people use free blog services like Blogger for their personal or family blogs. Why should they lose out because John McCain doesn't like what a few bloggers have posted about him? This would be a svere blow to our already diminished first amendment rights and more importantly, it would set a dangerous precedent. Why not just close down the internet?