Internet is not controlled by the government, which gives all the power to the people. Everything in which is created or linked through the Internet has no need for government permission, which makes it even that much more powerful for the public to state how they feel, and in some cases, changing how others perceive the current events. In this months Reason magazine (Peter Suderman), it states that the FCC wants to begin regulating what people decide to write and do through the Internet. Whether or not the FCC follows through, it is changing the way we as people think. Not only will personal opinions be closely watched, companies and others who advertise will have more regulations in how they advertise. Do you think this is attacking our freedom to express ourselves?
There are clear guidelines which are given to the media, but there has not, to my knowledge other than Schenk v. US, been a clear set of guidelines which explain what people can and cannot say, and until there is legislation or Supreme Court decisions which explicitly say what people can and cannot say, this seems to be the FCC over stepping its bounds.
ReplyDeleteI do not think the FCC can or ever will go through with this. We arent in Egypt, we live in a country were we have a lot of freedoms including the freedom of speech. It would be almost impossible for anyone to regulate what people are writing and doing on the internet...unless they shutoff the internet entirely-which obviously would never happen (atleast not without alot of chaos!).
ReplyDeleteDepending on what specifically the FCC wants to regulate, its not entirely out of the realm of possibility. If they wanted to regulate speech online in a way that is similar to what Schenk v. US did, then I think its possible that they may be able to get away with it. Now I'm not saying I think they should or that they will, but I am saying that if thats the direction they plan to go, its not without precedent.
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