The U.S. House of Representatives this week passed the Securing Adolescents from Exploitation-Online Act of 2007, or the SAFE Act of 2007, by a vote of 409 to 2. The bill puts the onus on internet service providers - as well as anyone offering an open Wi-Fi connection - to report tranmission of child pornography over the networks, with a fine of up to $150,000 for the first violation and up to $300,000 for subsequent violations.

"That broad definition would cover individuals, coffee shops, libraries, hotels, and even some government agencies that provide Wi-Fi," warns CNET News' Declan McCullagh. "It also sweeps in social-networking sites, domain name registrars, Internet service providers, and e-mail service providers such as Hotmail and Gmail, and it may require that the complete contents of the user's account be retained for subsequent police inspection."

"While it's always a good idea to password protect your wireless network to help keep unwanted people out, this bill should give private network users more incentive to ensure they are keeping their Base Stations locked down," notes the Mac Observer's Jeff Gamet. "An open network could potentially lead to unexpected liability if a passerby uses the access point to find or share child pornography. It could also cause some businesses that offer free Wi-Fi service to shut down their open networks."

Still, as Ars Technica's Nate Anderson points out, the bill does not require active monitoring. "It explicitly tells ISPs that they do not need to 'monitor any user, subscriber, or customer,' they do not need to 'monitor the content of any indication,' or even 'affirmatively seek facts or circumstances,'" he writes. "In other words, if you see it, you are legally obligated to report it, but ISPs do not need to become child porn detectives."

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