Isreal's New Bill...Sound Firmiliar

There is currently a bill being proposed in Israel that will automatically block access to online poker sites, sex and violence orientated web sites unless the customer specifically asks their internet provider permission to visit those blocked sites.  This bill has passed it's first Knesset reading last week which made it the first step towards censorship.

This bill reminds me a lot of the bill that got passed in the US as it was kind of slid in along with the main part of a different bill.  For instance this bill is called "Internment Porn Bill", did you see poker mentioned in that title because there isn't much porn action on poker websites.

This bill was authored and presented by Israel's Knesset member Amnon Cohen (Orthodox Shas party.,  "It is the latest in a line of attempts by Shas to make use of its upgraded influence within the coalition since the departure of Israel Beiteinu", according to a recent article in the Jerusalem Post.

The bill is receiving strong support by the Communications Minister Ariel Attias and is spiritually endorsed by party mentor Rabbi Ovadia Yosef.  The bill's initiator Cohen said, "Instead of parents having to actively block their children from viewing hard-core pornography and violence, pornography enthusiasts will have to be active and make a single phone call,"