The measure, which has no binding effect on federal legislators, stresses technology-based solutions to keep children from gaining access to online porn and to keep employees from accessing inappropriate content while at work.
Antipornography advocacy group CP80 backed the measure, which calls upon legislators to change the nature of the Internet by creating an “adult content channel” and a “family content channel.”
Electronic Frontier Foundation spokeswoman Rebecca Jeschke called the concept of two separate Internet “channels” a “bad idea.”
“There's always situations where an art site or a history site gets blocked,” Jeschke said, adding that the concept of segregating the Internet has been bandied about for nearly a decade.
Rep. Brad Daw, who sponsored the resolution, said he is interested in any solution that works, even if legislators ultimately do not adopt the “channel” concept.
Matt Yarro of the CP80 foundation said he sees the resolution as a way to “get the debate going.”
“There is this assumption that you can't control the Internet,” Yarro said. “It's a toaster, we made it, we can fix it. We can solve the Internet pornography problem tomorrow if we decided to.”
According to Yarro, his state-by-state campaign against online pornography is gaining traction — 13 states have begun debating similar resolutions.
