Russia Wants To Ban Children From Using WiFi
from the with-liability-on-the-wifi-owner dept
Ah, Russia. Officials in the Federal Mass Media Inspection Service (?!?) are considering a plan to ban children from using WiFi -- and would enforce the ban by holding the hotspot owners liable if anyone under 18 got on their networks. Seriously.The Communications and Press Ministry has proposed banning children from using Wi-Fi networks in public, potentially making cafes, restaurants and other locations providing the service responsible for enforcing the law.Why? For the children, of course! They claim it's related to Russia's new internet censorship law, which they're afraid will be circumvented by kids at the local coffee shop or restaurant. Not surprisingly, various places that offer WiFi are not happy about this, pointing out that they have no way of making sure that teens don't get on their WiFi. That doesn't seem likely to stop moralizing bureaucrats (with a healthy appreciation for the ability to censor) from moving forward with this plan.
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Filed Under: censorship, children, russia, wifi, wireless
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Yeah, it can be insanely abused and the Russian Govt is known for abusing their power against their citizens but hey, it's for the children! If you don't support it you certainly are a pedophile.
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"Hey look! Those Russians are protecting their children better than we are! We need to implement a STRONGER law. Perhaps we can have the shop owners police their Wifi networks AND pay the MPAA a tax for...well...something..."
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Movie idea!
I'm writing a script in which Russians parachute into a small mid-western US town and take over all of the Wi-Fi hotspots.
A small group of high school kids that were hanging out in a coffee shop with their iPads will escape the initial drop and run into the hills.
Once there, they will attack the Russians and steal routers and cell phones and build a number of hotspots that the Russians will keep trying to find and destroy.
I will call it 'Magenta Morning'.
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Real protection.
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Re: Real protection.
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Every kid & teen is 18 or older on the Internet for the 10 or so minutes they want to browse adult content.
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I'm very confused how this is supposed to protect them
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Re: I'm very confused how this is supposed to protect them
No. This is the primary file sharing demographic. This is still about rescuing the content industry, albeit through yet another type of 'reach around'.
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Sigh.
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Sure the do. Issue hour long passes with a user / pass configuration, and only give them out at the cash based on people who present ID. If that person then gives it to a child, it should be their problem.
It's not hard to do. It's the same process that generally keeps kids out of 18+ movies and adult bookstores.
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Kids get internet. Will never get caught. Oldest guy probably will never get caught either.
It's not that hard to do. It's the same process that generally gets kids under 18 some booze (in my country, the legal age for drinking alcohol is 18).
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Probably just a smoke screen
It won't keep them off the wifi, they will be in the park across the street with a "Pringles can" antenna.
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Stupid law, but stupid response
The law is stupid, but this response is equally so. Excepting for hackers, they certainly can make sure that teens don't get on their WiFi, in exactly the same way that for-pay hotspots ensure that only those who are paying get on their WiFi.
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Porn
The blockage of WiFi access to those under 18 may have been a bigger issue if the porn industry wasn't so pervasive in web advertising in Russia. They don't just use banner add's, they use viruses and Malware to "advertise"/hustle people into buying their product.
Holding people responsible for having minors attached to their WiFi network is ludicrous. However, from what I gathered from a friend over in Russia, it only applies to businesses such as café's and other public WiFi spots.
It should be noted that just because the language of the law is non-specific, that doesn't mean the authorities are stupid enough there are stupid enough to try to enforce the issue without research.
Mike Manaick I do give you credit for pointing the issue out. It is a problem. I just see this as a simple fact that as US citizens, we are used to being treated poorly when such broad languages are applied to law. I see this as Russia letting its regions govern themselves on it.
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LOL! Good joke! Obviously there's no example of Governments (or even people) abusing laws that are badly written with vague and broad definitions. Right. The Government promises this law will never be abused, please carry on with your ordinary lives.
Please, you can't be that naive, can you?
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Considering open as the internet is "the way it is meant to be" the information required to do so is easily acquired by even the most novice of users.
The smarter the world gets with technology does not necessarily mean that task well be harder because it will become common knowledge. These half baked laws to censor people will never work in the end.
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Unenforceable
If they ban children from WiFi, they will have to ban Pringles potato chips as well.
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Well, let's see how well that ends up. People in various countries across the world have tried and failed miserably to do similar things to people all through history, and every one of them have crashed and burned with people laughing and dancing on their graves.
How in the world can they support it anyway??? Teens dont even have to sit inside of a cafe etc. to connect to WiFi, just nearby. It's a ridiculous idea and i can't wait to see it fail.
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