MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Legislation that would require a preset adult content filter in smartphones and tablets sold in Alabama led to about an hour of impassioned debate about protecting children from pornography and overburdening manufacturers.
Rep. Chris Sells, R-Greenville, said his House Bill 167 is designed to protect children from pornography and would carry civil penalties up to $50,000 per device to the manufacturer.
“We don’t allow children to buy adult magazines, we don’t allow them to rent adult movies,” Sells said. “Yet, we just give them these phones, it’s got everything up there in it.”
The Senate Fiscal Responsibility and Economic Development Committee held a public hearing on the bill Wednesday. It will vote on it next week.
Manufacturers, retailers and trade commissions such as Apple and AT&T are major opponents of this bill, telling lawmakers that they would be unable to comply with the requirement if it became law.
“Manufacturers already offer content filtering technologies and parental controls and devices that help adults and children make positive digital choices,” said Michael Blank, legislative director for the Cellular Telephone Industries Association. “However, this bill will add significant complexity for businesses and create additional confusion at the point of purchase.
“Mandating state specific technical requirements on devices that are sold nationally is problematic because operating systems and other functionalities are not designed on a state-by-state basis.”
Last month, the Utah Legislature approved and the governor signed into law a similar bill instituting a statewide content filter on all purchased devices.
“The porn industry and big tech are oftentimes fighting us tooth and nail because they see our children as a profit target,” said Melea Stevens, a National Center on Sexual Exploitation board member. “They’re going to make up a lot of comments about how this is complicated (and) it’s not technically feasible.”
“We have biometrics on our phone, we have a geolocation device on our phones, it’s simplistic.”
Proponents find the bill to be a step in the right direction toward the protection of children in the online realm.
“We see children as young as four, five and six who are acting out compulsively because of what they see on pornography, and children are going to copy what they see,” Stevens said.
Blank and other opponents said parents can enable filters on their childrens’ devices at any time.
“These controls allow parents and guardians to restrict not only content, but also the type of apps that can be downloaded, limit purchases within those apps, as well as managed screen time,” Blank said. “Wireless service providers also offer additional tools that enable parents and guardians to determine the internet and app content their child can access.”
The bill passed convincingly in the House earlier this session. Sells has been working on this bill since 2019 and he is “feeling better about this year than ever before.”
“Kids have it rough and we just got to do anything we can to try to help them,” said Sells. “This just should have been done years ago.”
Sen. Clyde Chambliss, R-Prattville, is carrying the bill in the Senate.
“Are the filters going to stop 100% (of content), no,” Chambliss said. “We should do what we can.”