We give lots of other countries gruff for taking steps to regulate the Internet like old-school media. And, we often heckle US politicians for taking the slightest steps down a slippery slope of toward Internet content regulation.
Our snarky (and substantive) comments stand. Sadly, though, politicians tend to care more about rafts of voters than part-time bloggers.
And, according to a poll that came out over the weekend, good ole' Americans (at least 1500 of them) think by a decent margin that the Internet should be regulated like other media.
Specifically, Rasmussen Reports asked, "Should the Federal Communications Commission regulate the internet like it does radio and television?"
And, the results were:
49% Yes
35% No
16% Not sure
Rasmussen qualified that... "women... feel much more strongly about federal regulation of the Internet, with 55% in favor, 25% opposed and 20% undecided. Men reject federal regulation by a small margin – 46% to 42% -- with 12% unsure."
Unfortunately, these results weren't too dissimilar than the results of of a 463/Zogby question that we asked last Fall We found that:
- More than half of Americans believe that Internet content such as video should be controlled in some way by the government. Twenty-nine percent said it should be regulated just like television content while 24% said government should institute an online rating system similar to the one used by the movie industry. In contrast, only 36% said the blocking of Internet video would be unconstitutional.
- Only 33% of 18 to 24 year-olds supported government stepping in on content, while 72% of those over 70 years of age support government regulation and ratings.
It's so nice to have you do all of the research for us. It makes our decision making so much easier!! Thanks.
Posted by: MBT Shoes | July 15, 2011 at 01:48 AM