World

Anti-Gay Marriage Activist Who Tried to Marry Laptop Now on Quest to Ban Porn

Chris Sevier, an anti-LGBT lawyer who garnered international attention after trying to secure the right to marry his laptop in several US states, is now promoting federal-level legislation requiring the installation of an anti-porn and prostitution website filter on all computers and mobile devices which can be lifted if users pay a $20 surcharge.
Sputnik

Sevier is promoting what he calls the "Elizabeth Smart Law," named after the 15-year-old teenage girl kidnapped from her Utah home in 2002. Smart sent a cease-and-desist letter to the lawyer earlier this month requesting that her name be stricken from the bill, a spokesperson telling AP that she did not give him authorization to use her name.

A Rhode Island court is expected to hear a draft of the bill on Tuesday. Sevier's bill includes requiring internet service providers and those who sell devices with internet capabilities to install a filter which screens out obscene materials or prostitution websites. The block can be lifted via a payment of $20.

Hacked Robot Retailer May "Greet" You With Hard Porn and Demand Bitcoin (VIDEO)
Democratic Senator Frank Ciccone cosponsored the bill out of concern over young people's "easy access to materials that no children should be viewing, such as pornography and other highly offensive or disturbing material." Calling the bill a "work-in–progress," Ciccone said that his goal was to require that anti-porn and anti-prostitution website filters be made available to parents who want them.

Commenting on the Sevier's proposal, the American Civil Liberties Union has said that the idea was unconstitutional, infringing on privacy and screening out lewd but otherwise legal content.

Earlier this month, a Utah court dismissed an anti-same-sex marriage lawsuit initiated by Sevier, who claimed that gay couples' right to marry gave him the right to marry his MacBook. Sevier had filed similar lawsuits in Kentucky, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas over the past two years, all of them thrown out. Sevier had his license to practice law suspended in 2011 on disability/mental health grounds.

Discuss