By BROCK VERGAKIS
> SALT LAKE CITY --In an effort to keep teenagers with laptop computers
> from driving around neighborhoods in search of a wireless Internet
> connection to look at pornography, state lawmakers are considering a
> proposal that would force homeowners to limit access to their wireless
> networks with a password.
> The proposed legislation comes from Cheryl Preston, an Internet law
> professor at the Mormon church's Brigham Young University. She's
> developed several proposals designed to keep children from seeing
> pornography on the Web.
> Legislators began considering them Wednesday.
> "If you choose to have wireless, and allow anyone within a geographic
> area (to access it), then you ought to be responsible for that and you
> need to take reasonable efforts to prevent access by minors to your
> service," Preston said.
> Under Preston's proposal, anyone who unintentionally failed to block
> access to their network would be fined. Intentionally leaving a
> wireless network open to minors would be considered the same as
> publishing pornography.
> The proposal also says that anyone who wants to leave a wireless
> network open could do so if they used a filtering program that blocks > pornography.
> Preston has another proposal under which Utah's Internet service
> providers could be rewarded for filtering out pornography before it
> ever reaches homes, businesses, schools or telephones in this state.
> Under the proposal, Utah-based Internet service providers would be
> designated as "community conscious" by state government if they
> require that its Internet users don't publish obscene material, take
> down obscene material and comply with court orders to remove any
> prohibited content. She said tax incentives could also be offered to
> companies that participate in the program.
> "If you're a Utah provider we'll give you a designation that you can
> use in your advertising that you're an ISP that's chosen to (be)
> helpful in eliminating pornography. If you choose not to do that,
> great. But the citizens in Utah will be made aware," she said.
Are the Mormons being silly or dangerous with this one?