Governor Cox Moves to Block Porn on New Mobile Devices
After a period of deliberation, Governor Cox has signed off on a controversial bill to ban porn on newly-purchased phones and tablets. If the bill is officially implemented, mobile devices purchased in Utah will have a filter that automatically blocks pornography. According to the proposal, “certain users” can disable the filter for “specific content.”
In a report by the Associated Press, Governor Cox says that this bill will send an “important message” about keeping kids away from inappropriate content.
While the anti-porn filter is supposed to prevent children from accessing sexually explicit content, opponents of the bill say that this infringes on the right to free speech. American Civil Liberties Union lawyer, Jason Groth, criticized the bill, saying: “This is another example of the Legislature dodging the constitutional impacts of the legislation they pass.”
Adult film star, Cherie DeVille, is also against the bill, and penned an open letter to Utah Republicans on The Daily Beast. “If you want to monitor what your kid watches on their phone, install parental controls that have existed since AOL,” she said. “As lawyer Jason Groth told ABC News, ‘Parental filters already exist, and every Utah parent can decide the level of access for their children.’”
As stated earlier, the bill won’t be enacted until five other states pass the same porn filter requirement. This is to alleviate the concerns of phone manufacturers, who expressed that it may be difficult to apply filters to devices in just one state.
It won’t be too shocking if other states follow Utah’s lead. After Utah declared pornography a “public health hazard” in 2016 and signed a resolution to combat the so-called crisis, many other states like Arizona, Pennslyvania, Kansas, and Idaho have taken a similar stance. These states are prime candidates for passing the same bill.
Aren’t Parental Controls Enough?
The proposed anti-porn filter makes parental controls entirely irrelevant. Parental controls essentially do the exact same thing that this bill is proposing—block explicit content (and more) from children.
Shouldn’t parents who are concerned about their child’s safety online implement these controls to begin with? This bill will provide a filter not just for children, but also for adults. And although it can be disabled, it might prove to be an annoyance for adults who can make sensible decisions about what to access online.
