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(Julie Bennett/jbennett@al.com)

A public hearing is scheduled for Wednesday on a bill that would require sellers of computers, cell phones and other devices that provide Internet access to have a filter to block pornography.

Consumers who wanted to deactivate the filter would have to make a written request to the seller and pay a $20 fee that would go to the state to benefit crime victims and human trafficking victims.

The bill is by Rep. Jack Williams, R-Vestavia Hills, who has sponsored previous legislation to strengthen laws against human trafficking.

Under Williams' bill, devices would have filters that block child pornography, obscene material, sexual cyber-harassment and promotions of prostitution.

A seller who sells a device without a filter to a minor would be guilty of a felony, while it would be a misdemeanor to sell a device without a filter to an adult.

Williams said he proposed the bill to spark debate about how to protect children from exposure to hard-core pornography.

"This gets a conversation started on how do you find an approach that protects the rights and liberties of everybody involved," Williams said.

Williams said that protecting children from pornography was simpler before the digital age.

"A 10-year-old shows up at the local porn shop and they say, 'Sorry, you can't come in,' " Williams said.

Williams said similar bills are under consideration in other states, including in South Carolina.

Randall Marshall, legal director for the ACLU of Alabama, said the bill would create a law that would be unconstitutional.

"The notion that you have to jump through some hoops as an adult to access free information on the Internet violates the First Amendment," Marshall said. "This is censorship, plain and simple."

Marshall noted that child pornography is not protected speech and that people who trade in and view it are already prosecuted on a regular basis under existing law.

The Commerce and Small Business Committee in the Alabama House of Representatives will hold the hearing at 3 p.m. on Wednesday at the Alabama State House.

Updated at 5:45 p.m. to add comment from Randall Marshall.

Porn Filter Bill Alabama HB 428 by Mike Cason on Scribd