A Horseman Arrives

I planned to write a long piece about the Protecting Children from Internet Pornographers Act of 2011, but I waited a bit too long and Conor Friedersdorf at The Atlantic managed to nail pretty much everything I wanted to say. If you haven’t done so, read his article immediately. I’ll wait.

Outside of what Friedersdorf mentioned, I’ll add only two things:

First, I want to stress the seriousness of this bill. H.R. 1981 is the digital the equivalent of allowing a federal agent to follow you around taking excruciatingly detailed notes just in case someone one day thinks you may have done something illegal. This is absurd, creepy, and absolutely unacceptable.

Second, I want to emphasize the importance of carefully scrutinizing any bill that claims to exclusively target one of the Four Horsemen of the Infocalypse (terrorists, pedophiles, drug dealers, and money launderers). These four categories of criminals are so universally reviled that individuals are often quick to sacrifice individual liberties to combat them. These “temporary” sacrifices often end up lasting for decades and can be incredibly damaging.

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