South Carolina Puritans have created a law which would mean that people buying new computers and devices will be blocked from accessing online smut.

A bill, pre-filed earlier this month by state lawmaker Bill Chumley, called the Human Trafficking Prevention Act, would require computer makers and sellers to install filters that would prevent users from accessing porn and other sexual material.

Officials have said that parts of the state have struggled with Human Trafficking due to the proximity to Atlanta and Charlotte, two cities that rank highly in annual listings. There have been over 300 cases of human trafficking since 2007 — with 58 reported this year, the National Human Trafficking Hotline has reported.

Chumley thinks that if all the PCs and phones had porn filters installed then it would would be another way to fight human trafficking.

You can see the logic. Anyone who looks at porn must be involved in the trafficking of sex slaves. So since most people on the web look at porn at sometime, they are all sex traffickers. Who would have thunk it.

Computer or device buyers can pay to have the block removed. Thus making this law less about enforcing anything.

Proceeds from the bill would go to South Carolina attorney general’s human trafficking task force, the paper said. So in other words this is more of a porn tax to fund an unrelated legal action.

It is unlikely though to see the light of day.  Unlike the UK which is trying something similar “to protect children” the US is bound by a constitution which insists on free speech. A federal judge struck down a Pennsylvania law in 2004 as unconstitutional after forcing internet providers to block access to websites hosting illegal pornography.