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Don't let the government slow Internet progress The Internet has become a powerful communications and economic force because it has been free from government interference. To make sure the power and promise of the Internet continues, we need to keep it free of government interference.
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Latest from the IFC Impact of Media Violence on Children Hearing Tuesday, June 26, 2007 Despite FCC Chairman Kevin Martin's continual and vocal support for a la carte mandates, the proposal effectively went no where today in a Senate hearing on the impact of media violence on children. Although Senators Rockefeller, Lautenberg, Klobuchar and others reduced the hearing to grandstanding over who cares about the children more, they could not come to any agreement on what to do. Indeed, Klobuchar sided with Republicans John Sununu and Gordon Smith in calling a la carte "problematic" because of the adverse effects the legislation would have on minority programming. Sununu added he would not support any proposal that infringed property rights and Smith warned that paradoxically, under an a la carte regime, there would actually be less children's programming because of the decrease in the number of channels that this regulation would surely bring about. Senator Rockefeller repeated several times that he agreed with Senator Smith's statement that "the federal government is no substitute for good parenting," but he then added that he didn't think relying on parenting was working. Incredibly, as Rockefeller grew frustrated with Harvard Law School Professor Laurence Tribe's repeated assertions that all their regulatory schemes were a violation of the 1st amendment, he shot back that trusting parents was a "cop-out" argument. Lautenberg seemed to agree since he continued to ignore Tribe's objections and proceeded to ask panelists what could be done to cut down on the violence on network news. Fortunately, in spite of the rhetoric and Rockefeller and Lautenberg's seemingly supreme confidence in the ability of federal government to cure any social ill, there was very little express support for a la carte mandates, even from PTC president Tim Winter. The arguments offered against the proposal by Sununu, Smith, Klobuchar, and Tribe (who asked, should we force newspapers to offer each section independently?) were never refuted. It looks like this committee might have to stand by and actually let parents and civil society deal with television content. 6/26/2007 06:08:00 PM ATR files separate NOI comments Friday, June 15, 2007 Kudos to IFC member ATR (Americans for Tax Reform) for filing their own comments with the FCC. Read their version here. Labels: net neutrality 6/15/2007 02:29:00 PMPrevious Posts: Top News
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