(You know, like that Beyoncé song …)
Once again, the inhabitants of our Gold Dome make us all so very proud to make our homes and livings in the great state of Georgia.
SB59. It doesn’t have a fancy little catch name yet, just the unwieldy filing title of “Social Networking Website; illegal for owner to allow minor to create/maintain profile; provide for penalties.” What a mouthful. Here’s a better name:
The “Stop Eating Our Children, Nasty Internet!” Act of 2008.
Now, the legal ramifications and utter inanity of this act has been tackled, pile-driven and smacked-down by other Georgia blogginators (Grift, Rusty, Pye, the gang at Peach Pundit).
So instead, I’m just going to look at this practically.
“… it shall be illegal for the owner or operator of a social networking website to allow a minor using a protected computer to create or maintain a profile web page on a social networking website without the permission of the minor´s parent or guardian and without providing such parent or guardian access to such profile web page;”
What’s a protected computer?
“(3) ‘Protected computer’ means any computer that, at the time of an alleged violation of any provision of this article involving that computer, was located within the geographic boundaries of the State of Georgia.”
Got it. Okay. So how do you plan on enforcing this law?
Perhaps you are expecting social networks to be more self-policing than they already are. When a new user registers on Facebook or MySpace, should there be an additional question triggered by that user selecting “Georgia” as their home state?
Something along the lines of “If you live in Georgia, are you over the age of 18?”
Frankly, the culpability of the social network administrator would end right there. If a user answered “Yes” to being an adult, then that is really all the confirmation the administrator needs to know. If a minor lies and says “Yes,” well, then you have a lying kid on your hands who should’ve been raised better.
(Oh, sorry … I keep forgetting that we no longer expect parents to actually parent these days, particularly when their are nanny laws like this one to rear ‘em up in the traditions we hold so dear.)
However, it could be stipulated in an addendum to your bill that self-identification as an adult needs verifiable proof. From where would that proof come? Would you insist that the administrator ask for a credit card, a technique that has been employed historically to varying degrees of success and mistrust? Or would you ask that the administrator compromise the security of the applicant by asking for a copy of their driver’s license or some other form of identification equally ripe for identity theft?
Even these stipulations are for naught. Once it becomes apparent that an admittance of Georgia residence is a one-way ticket to interminable hassle, then the only recourse for an enterprising minor (or adult, actually, given the need for proof) would be to register as a resident of any of the other 49 states in our Union.
But, you are wondering, doesn’t the Internet know where users live? Can’t users be located IP address?
IP addresses are issued by Internet Service Providers to client computers on their network, thus allowing those clients access to the network-at-large. In other words, to be on the Internet, a client must have an IP address.
But you should realize that most IP addresses are not representative precisely of the geographical location of the addressed client computer. At best, the geographical location will coincide vaguely with the client’s locale. At worst, the location reported could be many states away.
Want an example? A visit to the IP Address Locator at MelissaData will allow you to enter your own IP address, then learn where in the world the Internet believes you to be. Right now, as I type this post, I am physically a few miles north of Atlanta.
According to my IP address, however, I’m in New Jersey.
Funny how that works.
