Lynch at Large

U.S. Senator Blanche Lincoln today introduced legislation which would supposedly make the Internet a safer place for America’s children. Lincoln said her legislation, “The Internet Safety and Child Protection Act of 2005,” would help relieve the anxieties experienced by parents due to the lack of controls they have over what their children view online. She said that it’s time the costs of protecting our children online shift from the American taxpayer to the actual purveyors of online pornography.

In fact, what Lincoln has in mind would be a regulatory nightmare, an unconstitutional infringement on free speech, and an added cost that would ultimately be borne by every internet subscriber through higher ISP fees.

A so-called “think tank" known as Third Way reportedly conducted research that produced some shocking results. It finds that children between the ages of 12-17 are the largest viewers of Internet pornography, and the average age at which children are first exposed to online pornography is 11 years of age. If true, and such alarming statistics will be difficult to substantiate, there is a serious issue raised by the disclosure. Do these children have parents? If so, where are they?

Of course, Lincoln’s proposal won’t cost anybody anything. A Trust Fund will be financed by a 25% excise tax on Internet pornography transactions.

Question: how will we know which sites to tax? Will there be a Federal Board of Review? Will alleged pornographers voluntarily identify themselves?

Her measure also requires age verification for adult sites. That’s a brilliant idea. We know kids in search of cold beers never steal their parent’s credit cards, buy a fake ID, or get an older buddy to go in the liquor store and make the purchase.

Senator Lincoln has unwittingly created a vibrant new cottage industry for shady mob types. There will be a fortune made in phone internet age verification credentials.

This is a nothing but a boondoggle and a bunch of shameless political grandstanding. Period.