Politicians Want to Police the Internet: Barack Obama Among ThemAccording to the Internet Media Entertainment & Gaming Association, a trade organization that two weeks ago filed a complaint to stop the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act from essentially being enforced, the Internet in general is ripe for the pickings. And Senator Barack Obama is right there voting to police it.
From the IME&GA Website:
In a move that made almost no news in either traditional or online media, the US Senate voted unanimously last month on a resolution making June "National Internet Safety Month", proposed by Sens. Barack Obama (D-IL), Joe Lieberman (ID-CT) and Ted Stevens (R-AK), amongst others. (the resolution can be read here)
Lawmakers, as is becoming the custom in Washington DC and state houses across the country, couched their resolution in the need to "protect children". As to just how this was to be accomplished, no mention was made in the text of the resolution.
In the roll-up to what will no doubt be one of the hotter political issues in 2008, politicians at the Federal and state levels are increasingly pointing to the Internet as a virtual "bad neighborhood", and playing up studies and statistics that leave the impression that innocent children line the online mean streets of social networks, gambling sites, online video games and pornography, as their parents stand powerless to help them.
Parents' ability to turn off the computer, to monitor their children's usage, or to implement the fairly-effective filtering methods offered by their ISPs, were also not mentioned in the resolution.
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Gambling911.com News Wire
Originally published June 18, 2007 12:51 am ET
