Posted on 03/24/2021 4:47:56 PM PDT by RandFan
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox (R) signed a bill on Tuesday requiring porn filters on cellphones and tablets, The Associated Press reports.
The bill, H.B. 72, is aimed at establishing filter requirements and enforcement for tablets and smartphones activated in the state on or after Jan. 1 of the year the measure takes effect, according to its text.
Manufacturers that don’t abide by the law could face fines of $10 for each violation with a cap of $500.
At least five other states have to pass the measure for it to take effect, however.
A spokesperson for Cox previously told the AP that he would “carefully consider this bill during the signing period.”
The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Susan Pulishper (R), said she was “grateful” that Cox signed the bill, which she said was aimed at keeping porn away from children, the AP notes. She also noted that parents could take the filters off.
Jason Groth, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Utah, told the news service that the measure was “another example of the Legislature dodging the constitutional impacts of the legislation they pass.” He further said the bill’s constitutionality will likely be argued in court.
Utah has been trying to curb pornography in the state for years.
Former Gov. Gary Herbert (R), for example, asked the state for $50,000 in 2016 to fund the Utah Coalition Against Pornography, which was a private nonprofit group that fights porn.
What does Bishop Mittens say?
Who TF do they think they are?
Children have access to porn?
that is their parents problem and there is software out there for them.
Or they could just not give the brats a phone.
Just missed it ...by like 30 years.
Dumb law. I would think porn sites would infect your phone with malware. Pretty chancy for a $1200 phone. None of this makes sense.
Well golly gee willikers, why can't the parents put them on their kids' phones in the first place?
This will be used to filter a lot more than porn
Eat, Drink and be Merry....for tomorrow ye may be in Utah.
How often do you have to clean out the filter?
Soooo, if a porn filter is available from the phone’s sales portal, does that meet the requirement of the law?
Once filters are in place for porn, and have survived court challenges, then it will be easy to tweak the filters to exclude “hate” sites.
And FR and all pro-MAGA sites will be classified as “hate”.
“This will end up in court “
Sure will, and perhaps Krisi Noem can learn what a SPINE looks like.
This 110%! Plenty of child lock apps for parents! The government needs to stay out of it!
Still need 4 other states to add this. Good luck. Lol.
UT’s problem is that it’s only the 30th(ish) most populated state. That’s not even 10% of the purchasing power of California, a state that can get away with passing consumer laws because manufacturers will bend the need to maintain access to the market.
I’m not sure what Android’s ‘porn filter’ is or even if it has parental controls out of the box. Apple’s parental controls, particularly with the latest iOS release are surprisingly robust. I don’t think this will be a problem for them.
If this is a problem for Android devices (out of the box), then it’s possible Android phone & tablet makers (particularly tablet sellers) will simply say to UT: LolGFY and stop selling devices in the state.
The problem is that there is a new porn business which films consecutive episodes involving what they call the “Morman Tabernacle Choir” which portrays multiple partners running around nude under their choir gowns.
Apparently that was the last straw for the good Governor of Utah.
That’s hilarious. As if kids can’t take the filter off. Yes kids are lazy but one thing they are good with is technology.
????? What does she have to do with this?
That’s a good question, and something I was trying to get at with my comment. There are a TON of apps that do this, but I’m not sure any of them come (today) installed out of the box.
Also, phone companies almost all use tweaked versions of Android, so they could certainly add a porn filter app to the other factory installed apps, like they do with Facebook for instance.
The Android tablet market though is going to be a different story.
“Plenty of child lock apps for parents! The government needs to stay out of it!”
This highlights the difference between an American conservative (like you) and a right-statist (the guv).
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