Know thine enemy

Some days it seems like paranoia is only intelligent.

First it was net neutrality which is still in limbo and now this.

John McCain has made clear that he doesn’t like the blogosphere.

Now he has introduced legislation that would treat blogs like Internet service providers and hold them responsible for all activity in the comments sections and user profiles. Some highlights of the legislation:

– Commercial websites and personal blogs “would be required to report illegal images or videos posted by their users or pay fines of up to $300,000.”

– Internet service providers (ISPs) are already required to issue such reports, but under McCain’s legislation, bloggers with comment sections may face “even stiffer penalties” than ISPs.

— Social networking sites will be forced to take “effective measures” — such as deleting user profiles — to remove any website that is “associated” with a sex offender. Sites may include not only Facebook and MySpace, but also Amazon.com, which permits author profiles and personal lists, and blogs like DailyKos, which allows users to sign up for personal diaries. [emphasis in original]

The fact is, part of what makes blogs what they are is the comments section. Many bloggers started out as commenters and were then encouraged to start up their own blogs.

(read more)

Cross posted at Brilliant at Breakfast.