IP: AT&T's First Amendment Problem, And Ours

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

> Date: Sun, 27 May 2001 12:35:44 -0400
> To: Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>
> From: Monty Solomon <monty () roscom com>
> Subject: AT&T's First Amendment Problem, And Ours
>
> AT&T'S FIRST AMENDMENT PROBLEM, AND OURS
>
> Costly
>
> by Brendan I. Koerner
>
> Post date 05.08.01 | Issue date 05.14.01
>
> When you think "First Amendment martyr," you don't exactly think
> AT&T. It's a safe bet that few executives at the telecom giant tote
> aclu membership cards or pace their office corridors reciting the
> lyrics to "Fight the Power." But AT&T has decided that channeling
> William Kunstler is a shrewd (if deeply dishonest) way to ward off
> government regulation. And, incredibly, it's working.
>
> In July 1999, AT&T filed a lawsuit in Broward County, Florida,
> claiming its First Amendment rights were under siege. At issue was
> the use of "broadband" cable lines--wires that now carry cable
> television but are capable of carrying telephone, cable, and Internet
> data simultaneously. AT&T owns the lines in Broward County, and
> officials there had ordered the company to give competing Internet
> service providers access to the wires for a reasonable fee. According
> to AT&T, by dictating what content traveled over its wires, Broward's
> ordinance trampled on its right to free speech.
>
> http://www.thenewrepublic.com/051401/koerner051401.html



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