Interesting op-ed in the Washington Post from Adam Thierer of PFF on how new technologies can possibly spur old ways to censor content....
These lawmakers argue that just regulating over-the-air broadcast TV and radio content won't cut it anymore. In our modern world of abundant, ubiquitous media -- where 85 percent of homes subscribe to cable or satellite TV and many citizens rely on the Internet or mobile devices for news and entertainment -- broadcast censorship regulations afford lawmakers less and less control over the media outlets people use most.
In searching out a legal justification to censor new media outlets, policymakers are falling back on the same arguments they have used to regulate broadcast television and radio: They are "pervasive," and they are "intruders" that are "uniquely accessible" to children at home. These are the catchphrases a slim 5 to 4 majority of the Supreme Court used in FCC v. Pacifica Foundation (1978) to rationalize treating broadcasters like second-class citizens in the eyes of the First Amendment. There are many reasons to doubt Pacifica in today's world, but even under that case there's no logic for new indecency rules for cable and satellite channels.
Comments