House backs bill to aid in screening porn sites

House members unanimously supported a bill that will ideally give people better control over what comes into their homes through computers.

HB260 would ask Utah-based companies that have pornographic material to rate their sites, thereby allowing better filtering of those sites, especially by parents. It would also establish, through the Attorney General's Office, a registry of companies that do not rate their sites but have pornographic material, and that registry could be used for filtering.

Additionally, HB260 provides $100,000 for advertising campaigns which would help educate parents about the dangers of the Internet to their children and how best to protect them. The bill originally had a warning of its possible unconstitutional requirements, but that has changed because the filtering would be optional for consumers.