MONTGOMERY – Legislation that would require a preset adult content filter in smartphones and tablets sold in Alabama led to about an hour of impassioned debate about protecting children from pornography and overburdening manufacturers.

Rep. Chris Sells, R-Greenville, said his House Bill 167 is designed to protect children from pornography and would carry civil penalties up to $50,000 per device to the manufacturer.

“We don’t allow children to buy adult magazines, we don’t allow them to rent adult movies,” Sells said. “Yet, we just give them these phones, it’s got everything up there in it.”