Akkam’s Razor

Straight Talk Express much, huh?  McCain, no friend to the bloggers, has called for legislation "to protect the kids" from online exploitation, with the added benefit of creating a "chilling effect" on discourse on the blogosphere.

ThinkProgress cites the proposed legislation (PDF) as doing the following:

Digg user Superfluous points to a statement issued by McCain:

"The Stop the Online Exploitation of Our Children Act, which I introduced earlier this month, aims to clarify and strengthen a child pornography reporting requirement that has been a federal law for almost a decade. The legislation sends one very simple and very important message: If you’re aware of child pornography online, you should be obligated to report it to the appropriate authorities.

"Contrary to what has been reported by some news outlets, the reporting requirements in the legislation would apply only to child pornography. In addition, the bill is in no way targeted at the free speech rights of bloggers or anyone else communicating their views on the Internet.

"For example, the speech rights of bloggers and others online would not be impacted because the legislation does not require the monitoring of users or the content of any communication. Nor does it require online service providers to seek out child pornography on their sites. Rather, it requires online service providers to report child pornography when they become aware of it, either through a report from a subscriber or user, or through a discovery of the material by an employee. As a result, the reporting requirement would protect children while not imposing a financial or administrative burden on online service providers.

"I cherish the rights of individuals to speak freely on the Internet. That right and the ability to exercise it is what makes the Internet the critical innovation that it is. This bill doesn’t interfere with that, but is intended only to ensure that online service providers that find child pornography on their networks report those images to the appropriate authorities."

Let's call this exactly as it is…  McCain knows he'll be skewered on all sides by the blogosphere during his probable 2008 Presidential bid, on his "maverick" image, corruption despite an ethical appearance, and his willingness to put partisan politics above personal integrity.

So, what does he do?  Follow the same road as Democrats with gun control, or Republicans with Choice, or more recently Hillary Clinton and Joe Lieberman with video games, and make far reaching legislation, affecting a cherished American value, the freedom of speech, by wrapping it up in "protecting the kids".

Every single politician who cosponsors or votes for this bill, or any bill this gets slipped in goes on the enemies list.  As far as McCain is concerned, he may have cheated death on the Orskinay, and endured a Vietnamese Prisoner of War Camp, but his candidacy will NOT survive this.  If it's one thing that the most bloggers of all political stripes can agree, it's that speech must remain free and NOT be limited.