k wrote:
I don't mean to sound like an asshole, but it seems to me that spending time working through the logistics of circumventing a bad piece of legislation that hasn't even passed yet to be a little like putting the cart before the horse.

This is still a political concern and the solution seems like it ought to be likewise. E.g. write your senator and congressperson, raise awareness (i recognize this is happening to some degree organically, since i just found out about it, but nonetheless), etc.

Have we become so cynical about the likelihood of being listened to that we assume bullshit laws will be passed and jump straight to figuring out how to get around them?

Apparently we ought to be. A version of this bill was rushed through the house Wednesday without following the usual processes. It presents a potentially unintended consequence that individual people who run wifi or other networks are now legally obligated to report child pornography. Because the definition of child pornography is so vauge you are better off reporting than not reporting if you see anything remotely suspicious.

Whats even more frustrating is that this bill seems to have apologists. George Ou says:

The bill in question... would enact huge fines for any... home users with open Access Points who fails to report child pornography users.

I must admit after reading that story I was pretty furious...

Then he turns around and says:

So as you can see, no one is going to be required to monitor their infrastructure.

You are right George. No one is required to monitor anything. However, if you have a wifi network at home and you have a bunch of friends over and you notice that one of them has hentai videos on their laptop, you could face hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines if you fail to report them to the police. Thats probably not what the people who crafted this bill intended, but thats the law they passed, because they aren't paying attention and they basically don't know what they are doing.

Child Pornography is a serious problem, but when Congress continually passes poorly crafted legislation with overbroad definitions and seeks to compell the entire country to enlist in a stazi like network they aren't taking the problem seriously. They are taking advantage of the problem to promote themselves, and they are doing violence to our Constitution in the process.

RE: Thought Crime