FCC Chair Drops Internet Filter Plan -- And Words from the Smothers Brothers

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren () vortex com>
Date: January 6, 2009 12:38:52 AM EST
To: dave () farber net
Cc: lauren () vortex com
Subject: FCC Chair Drops Internet Filter Plan -- And Words from the  
Smothers Brothers



 FCC Chair Drops Internet Filter Plan -- And Words from the Smothers  
Brothers

                  http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000488.html


Greetings.  You may recall that a few months ago in "Addams Family or
Ned Flanders? The FCC Internet Censorship Battle Heats Up"
( http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000442.html), I lambasted an FCC plan
for government-mandated morality filtering (that is, censorship) of a
proposed new free, nationwide wireless Internet service.

Now comes word that FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, the prime mover of the
plan, has -- in an explicit attempt to get other FCC commissioners to
sign on to the proposal -- dropped the filtering requirement
( http://tinyurl.com/fcc-wireless-censor ).

Of course, this doesn't mean that if the proposed service is ever
approved and built, that the firm or firms involved won't choose on
their own to impose filtering.  And the FCC could also once again
decide to go down the incredibly inappropriate filtering/censorship
route.

But it appears that Martin has at least come into sync with reality on
this issue, for the moment anyway.

In the never ending battle between freedom of speech and those persons
who would suppress the open flow of information, there have been many
perhaps unlikely champions over the years.

Those of you old enough to remember the Smothers Brothers and
their groundbreaking CBS television show around 40 (!) years ago, will
probably recall the very public censorship battles the brothers fought
against CBS (who ultimately pulled them from the air over these
disputes, then lost a federal breach of contract lawsuit that the
brothers subsequently filed).

Tommy Smothers, whose character persona (180 degrees from his real
personality) was of the "dumb" brother, was actually the mover and
shaker of the pair.  In this very short (less than one minute) video
clip, Tommy recently explained his concept of "Freedom to Hear" --
without which he suggests (and I agree) that Freedom of Speech can be
rendered essentially impotent
( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8biC_T1Rok ).

The Smothers Brothers' censorship battles took place in an era when
the three major commercial U.S. television networks pretty much ruled
the broadcast media landscape in this country -- seemingly a very
different situation than today.

Yet censorship is still censorship, throughout the ages and across the
broad span of technological innovations.  The names and details
vary, but the goals of those who would censor remain quite familiar,
and the preservation of fundamental civil liberties will always
require a continuing battle against censorship in its various forms
and guises.

When it comes to freedom of speech and freedom to hear, the more
things change, the more they really do stay the same.

--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein
lauren () vortex com or lauren () pfir org
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
http://www.pfir.org/lauren
Co-Founder, PFIR
  - People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org
Co-Founder, NNSquad
  - Network Neutrality Squad - http://www.nnsquad.org
Founder, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com
Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com




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