WASHINGTON – The governor of Utah yesterday announced a new law requiring an anti-pornography filter on smartphones and tablets sold in the conservative Mormon-majority US state.
The law, which Republican Spencer Cox said he signed the night before, will penalise manufacturers failing to include the filter between US$10 and US$500 (RM41.40 and RM2,069) per violation.
Backed by conservative lawmakers in the western state – where members of the Mormon Church make up two-thirds of the population – the measure will take effect only in the unlikely event that five other states pass similar laws.
In practice, the reform could look like the reverse of parental controls on existing devices sold by tech companies such as Apple and Google, in which the filters are by default turned off.
People who want to be able to access content seen as potentially harmful would have to ask for a code to unblock the automatic filter.
Opponents like the Utah branch of the American Civil Liberties Union said the constraints encroach on the right to unrestricted internet access. – AFP, March 25, 2021
