Utah Governor Signs New Porn Filter Law That's Just Pointless, Performative Nonsense

(Mis)Uses of Technology

from the round-and-round-you-go dept

For decades now Utah legislators have repeatedly engaged in theater in their doomed bid to filter pornography from the internet. And repeatedly those lawmakers run face first into the technical impossibility of such a feat (it’s trivial for anybody who wants porn to bypass filters), the problematic collateral damage that inevitably occurs when you try to censor such content (filters almost always wind up with legit content being banned), and a pesky little thing known as the First Amendment. But annoying things like technical specifics or the Constitution aren’t going to thwart people who just know better.

For months now Utah has been contemplating yet another porn filtering law, this time HB 72. HB 72 pretends that it’s going to purge the internet of its naughty bits by mandating active adult content filters on all smartphones and tablets sold in Utah. Phone makers would enable filters by default (purportedly because enabling such restrictions by choice is just to darn difficult), and require that mobile consumers in Utah enter a pass code before disabling the filters. If these filters aren’t enabled by default, the bill would hold device manufacturers liable, up to $10 per individual violation.

On Tuesday, Utah Governor Spencer Cox signed the bill into law, claiming its passage would send an ?important message? about preventing children from accessing explicit online content:

“Rep. Susan Pulsipher, the bill?s sponsor, said she was ?grateful? the governor signed the legislation, which she hopes will help parents keep their children from unintended exposure to pornography. She asserts that the measure passes constitutional muster because adults can deactivate the filters, but experts said it still raises several legal concerns.”

The AP story takes the “view from nowhere” or “both sides” US journalism approach to the story, failing to note that it’s effectively impossible to actually filter porn from the internet. Usually because the filters (be they adult controls on a device or DNS blocklists) can usually be disabled by a toddler with a modicum of technical aptitude. Or that filters almost always cause unintended collateral damage to legitimate websites.

The AP also kind of buries the fact that the bill is more about performative posturing than productive solutions. The law literally won’t take effect unless five other states pass equal laws, something that’s not going to happen in part because most states realize what a pointless, Sisyphean effort this is:

“Moreover, the rule includes a huge loophole: it doesn?t take effect until five other states pass equivalent laws. If none pass before 2031, the law will automatically sunset. And so far, Utah is the only place that?s even got one on the table. ?We don?t know of any other states who are working on any plans right now,? says Electronic Frontier Foundation media relations director Rebecca Jeschke.”

There’s also, again, that whole First Amendment thing. There is apparently something in the water at the Utah legislature that makes state leaders incapable of learning from experience when it comes to technical specifics or protected speech:

Obviously, this will go about as well as all the previous efforts of this type, including the multi-state effort by the guy who tried to marry his computer to mandate porn filters in numerous states under the false guise of combatting “human trafficking.” And it will fail because these are not serious people or serious bills; they’re just folks engaged in performative nonsense for a select audience of the perpetually aggrieved. Folks who simply refuse to realize that the solution to this problem is better parenting and personal responsibility, not shitty, unworkable bills or, in this case, legislation that does nothing at all.

Filed Under: 1st amendment, constitution, moral panic, porn filters, spencer cox, utah