Lying on the Internet could soon be a federal crime

http://news.yahoo.com/lying-internet-could-soon-federal-crime-232406135.html
begin quote.
The US Department of Justice wants to make it a federal crime to violate the “terms of service” of any website, reports Declan McCullagh at CNet. According to this interpretation, breaching the terms of service of websites — which can be done by simply using a fake name on Facebook, lying about your weight on a dating site, or using Google if you’re under the age of 18 — could make you a criminal. end quote.

To me this is sort of another one of those reasons not to let your children (under 21) use the internet unless you as a parent want to be liable for whatever people understand what their legal rights actually are( and how many people under 21) (and don't have a degree in internet law) actually do anyway?

To me, all this sounds a lot like a way for lawyers to catch unsuspecting parents and their children and to prosecute them for things that they don't understand. So, in other words this just sounds like another thing that will or could cause the death of the internet (or at least death of the internet in the U.S.).

Recently, my daughter was just trying to make Netflix streaming work over our PS3 and the device came up with (you need to download this new patch) but then what downloaded had nothing at all to do with Netflix but only some new contract with PS3. Then we went back to Netflix and we still had to create some new contract that no one without a lawyer should actually sign (CLICK ON). My daughter clicked on the first one and I got angry because more and more these internet contracts take more and more of people's rights away and I at the very least wanted to look at what I was clicking on. My daughter didn't understand because she IS ONLY 15 AND she still (trusts people) sweet dear. I'm 63 and have learned that "You can't really trust anyone". And After taking a college Business law course I learned "Don't sign any contract anywhere unless you read it first and likely even then you should have your lawyer read it first if you can't speak "Lawyer" before you ever even consider signing it or (clicking on it).

Yes. This just sounds like corporations and lawyers finding a way to harm regular internet users like you and I who aren't "contract lawyers" in order to make some more money. Hey, isn't this the way that the mortgage meltdown started too?

I think I just hit upon the real problem. The real problem is that it is literally impossible to regulate the internet in any useful way in the U.S. or world in any real or meaningful way without killing it completely. The internet tends to disempower all nations just by its very existence and I guess the U.S. Department of Justice is just beginning to fully realize that. An internet cannot exist without freedom because if it isn't free no one will use it for anything. People who have really spent time researching this all agree that the internet disempowers national and even international control in all directions simultaneously. However, now literally all the biggest corporations and nations on earth depend upon the internet for their business it should be interesting how this latest threat to the existence of the internet is dealt with.

I think it is safe to say that the main reason the Western world is now in financial dire straits is the internet because of the "Flat Earth" that it created where no country has much advantage over any other except in regard to how much they are paid to do something. And the business always goes to the lowest credible price on anything. This just stole the goose that laid the golden eggs from the western world. Now the real question is: "Must the U.S. and the western World kill the internet with regulations in order to become financially viable again? The answer might be "Yes." But I don't know how this is going to play with the now 7 billion people of earth. Time will tell.