Idaho Bills

Adds to existing law to establish the Parental Rights Protection of Minors Act to protect minors from exposure to harmful materials on certain devices.

The proposed legislation seeks to fulfill the Governor's compelling interest in protecting children from exposure to harmful material online, while not overburdening free speech. This is accomplished by requiring manufacturers of internet-capable devices to install and activate technology that enables parents to make filtering decisions for their children. This legislation recognizes the serious harm that comes to children from online pornography exposure and allows the government to encourage the use of filters and empower parents to determine what internet material is appropriate for their children to access (Ashcorft v. ACLU, 542, U. S. 656, 670) (2004). Without this legislation, it is not possible for parents to effectively protect their children from the massive amounts of harmful material inundating them online. This is because both mobile and computer devices are capable of connecting to the internet in various ways, each with their own set of filtering limitations. By place internet filtering requirements at the manufacturer level, the devices themselves will be capable of filtering harmful content as they move in and out of different internet networks.