A Missouri Senate committee is considering whether to make internet providers block children from getting onto obscene websites. Sen. Ed Emery, a Republican from southwest Missouri’s Lamar, is proposing to let parents set up passwords to access such websites. The concept is similar to televisions with parental control settings for certain channels.
Senator Ed Emery (photo courtesy; Missouri Senate)
“The pornography industry is going to continue to try to get to our children and our families,” says Emery. “We have to look at it as what can we do that actually can be adjusted to address the needs of families who want to be protected.”
Under the Senate Bill 382, parents who give their kids the password could face a misdemeanor. Internet companies that purposely fail to block the content or are made aware of unblocked obscene content and fail to block such websites within 5 days could also be found guilty of a misdemeanor.
“We still have a lot of work to do on it (the bill). It’s still definitely a work in progress but it mandates that these filters have to be on devices,” says Emery.
Some internet company officials have told Emery there’s still a lot of work to be done on the bill and such a law could be an additional cost to customers.
The Senate committee has not yet voted on the measure.
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