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Re: Utah governor signs Net-porn bill

  • From: William Allen Simpson
  • Date: Thu Mar 24 10:59:10 2005 
David Barak wrote:
Planned Parenthood is quite alive and well in Utah. Contraceptives are freely advertised on TV and given
out on campus at the U of U. All of the other stuff
you're seeing is either:

1) unenforcable old blue laws similar to ...


Don't know about Utah, but do know about Michigan:

1998 Aug 15 -- 24-year-old computer programmer hit a rock with his
canoe.  Began cussing.  Charged with a 19th century law banning
profanity within earshot of women and children.  Convicted by jury.

Took 4 years to overturn on appeal.  Tens of thousands of dollars.  Is
only 1 of many such cases across the country that the ACLU has fought.

So, I wouldn't bank on "unenforceable"....
2) political posturing by elected officials (also
relatively common in other parts of the world. c.f.
US Congress, both parties)


I've previously written here about RECENT Michigan laws on sex between
unmarried persons, called "lascivious" conduct here (as opposed to
"fornication" in Utah).

And just like RECENT Utah, Michigan has RECENTLY enacted clearly
unconstitutional laws on abortion, in the hopes that some future
Supreme Court will reverse Roe v Wade, at which time all those invalid
laws will become operative.
3) Something which, while it COULD be extended to mean
something ridiculous, will NOT be.

Great!  If you truly believe this, just volunteer to be the test case.

All you have to do is host a computer site, and refuse to label the
content.  Heck, AFAICT, a FTP-only site would be a good case.

Or simply refuse to offer the blocking service.

I'm assuming that you really operate an ISP in Utah.  And that you are
willing to spend some time in jail at various times, have $10,000 or so
for bail, and a few $100,000 for attorney fees -- none of which you'll
get back even should you win.

I've spent time in jail on principle.  I'm glad to see others are still
willing to stand up and be counted!

For the rest of you, wouldn't it just be cheaper and more cost effective
to send some money to CDT?

--
William Allen Simpson
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