This is the Cato Daily Podcast for Tuesday, April 11th,

2003. I'm Caleb Brown. Protecting children from harmful content online,

of course, is primarily a job for parents but lawmakers in

states and in Congress can't seem to resist attempting big policy swings to

keep young people away from some content.

Cato's Jennifer Huddleston says even the most reasonable

sounding proposals can impose new and large costs and risks.

Over the last few years we've seen an increasing conversation around you know what

young people today are doing online particularly with regards to

teenagers on social media as you mentioned we've seen a variety of bills introduced in

states, both red and blue states, as well as a lot of conversation about

this in Congress by members on both sides of the aisle.

I don't doubt that the policy makers that are discussing this issue are well-intentioned

and are doing this out of genuine concerns in many cases for young people.

But the reality is that we have to look at this more broadly and we have to look at the impact

that these proposals would actually have.

In many cases, the consequences for these proposals on speech

and on privacy of the very young people

that they claim to protect

would actually require a collection of more information. It would take away beneficial uses of

technology for young people to connect with friends and family as well as to find

communities online that may actually improve different experiences

...