Nanny-Staters In South Carolina Devise Porn Based Revenue Scheme

Oh, come on South Carolina.

The Palmetto State has decided to attempt to take a new tack on getting money out of its residents by forcing computer manufacturers and retailers to install software on any new computers that will prevent the owner from being able to view porn.

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According to Reuters, Republican lawmakers in the state say that it corresponds to the Republican Party’s platform of getting tough on pornography and that the internet has become a safe haven for sexual predators.

“Pornography, with its harmful effects, especially on children, has become a public health crisis that is destroying the lives of millions,” the GOP said in its platform. “We urge energetic prosecution of child pornography, which is closely linked to human trafficking.”

No one can argue with the latter, but this amendment will do null to curb online viewing of pornography.

Setting the obvious constitutional challenges aside, let me explain human nature to any Republican lawmaker who thinks that this will work. Sex is quite the motivator.

The only obstacle this law places between someone being able to get to a porn website on their new computer is a $20 fee to get the antidote software. Not to mention the fact that there are likely plenty of low-rent computer hackers that would willingly charge $5 or even $10 to get around the anti-porn software.

Anyone who is into porn enough that they are actually a part of the human trafficking problem the lawmakers claim to be trying to curb is going to fork over the $20 fee or find someone who can get around the software for them.

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But Republican supporters in the state see this as a catchall for addressing human trafficking:

“This is a way to preserve freedom, not raise taxes and combat a serious problem all in one,” State Representative William “Bill” Chumley, a Republican, said in an interview.

Any moral, compassionate being wants human trafficking to end without question, but this is just a money grab by the state of South Carolina and will create a new underground market and a multitude of petty criminals.

As with prohibition, it is difficult to legislate morality and glossing over the issue at heart with a silly law like this does little to address how or why people use pornography.

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