Here’s a stupid idea slouching its ugly way towards the legislature. Big government Republican Congressman Duncan Hunter is sponsoring a bill (laughably entitled the Parent’s Empowerment Act) that would “allow the parent or guardian of a minor to sue in federal court anyone who knowingly disseminates any media containing “material that is harmful to minors” if the material is distributed in a way that “a reasonable person can expect a substantial number of minors to be exposed to the material and the minor, as a result to exposure to the material, is likely to suffer personal or emotional injury or injury to mental or moral welfare.”
That’s so widely drawn as to ensure that almost any media could be drawn within its net, or at least tied up in nuisance litigation that would, inevitably, have a chilling effect on what is produced. That’s probably the idea, but if Rep. Hunter wants tighter censorship, he should just say so. This bill is as dishonest as it is bone-headed.