No doubt following the advice of TLF, the House commerce ommittee chair Joe Barton has rejected the idea of holding hearings on the Rathergate controversy. “A news organization’s responsibility is to facts and truth, but the oversight of network news generally is a matter best sorted out by the viewing public and the news media,” he said. “I do not personally believe these documents are legitimate, and it seems clear that the press and the two presidential campaigns are properly dealing with that issue.”
Welcome news for anyone worried about government interference in the media. Of course, had Dan Rather bared his chest on 60 Minutes, that would have been a different story.
I’ve recently read two very important columns on the regulation of online pornography that I want to bring to everyone’s attention. The first is a column entitled “Free Porn” by Professor Lawrence Lessig in this month’s Wired magazine that I find deeply troubling.
The second is a impressive new essay in The New Atlantis entitled “The End of Obscenity” by Jeffrey Rosen. Rosen is the legal affairs editor of The New Republic, and a professor of law at the George Washington University Law School. Rosen’s essay is must reading for anyone still searching in vain for a way to censor online pornography. But let’s begin with Lessig’s new article.
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In the past few days, it has become increasingly obvious that CBS used (badly) forged documents in a 60 Minutes hit piece on George Bush. Each day, its defenses seem to become weaker, and the attacks stronger. As John Stossel said in an interview last night, CBS has circled its wagons, only to find them on fire.
Now comes word that Congress may join the fray: Rep. Chris Cox has asked the House Telecom Subcommittee to launch an investigation into CBS’ reporting on this matter. As wrong as CBS was to run its story, it would be even more wrong for Congress to get involved. Simply put: the government should not be policing the media. No matter how sloppy, biased or irresponsible, Congress simply should not be telling the media what it can or can’t do. Or even “investigating” what it has done. That is the road to censorship.
Dan Rather and CBS will doubtless suffer tremendously for their outrageous conduct–because of investigations by other private media outlets (including blogs), with likely sanctions being loss of reputation and credibility. A congressional investigation is neither necessary nor welcome.
I just wanted to make folks in the southern California area aware of a fun event I am going to be co-hosting on Tuesday, September 14th out in L.A. on “The New Censorship Wave: How Real Is the Threat to Freedom of Speech and Expression?” It will feature a discussion with Penn Jillette of the magic / comedy team of Penn & Teller. Should be fun!
If you’re in that area and interested in attending, here is the info. It will be held at the Beverly Hills Hilton starting at 11:00.
Yesterday, the FCC extended the comments period for its inquiry into the impact of violent TV programming on kids. The FCC launched the inquiry this summer after several members of Congress wrote to the FCC earlier this year requesting that the agency study what it could do about violence on television. The Senate recently included a measure in a military spending bill (how’s that for irony!) that would ban violent video programming on broadcast TV during hours in which children might be in the audience (basically anytime before 10:00 p.m.). Thus, this latest “for the children” censorship crusade du jour, aimed at getting “excessive violence” out of the media, suddenly seems like a very real possibility.
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Rudy Giuliani gave a pretty good speech last night, IMHO. But, alas for the GOP, the speech got cold-shouldered from the broadcast networks. Flipping around the bacast dial during the speech, I found Monday night football, a local weather report, and one local broadcast report from the convention floor–but even that didn’t show the speech. Time to take up arms against networks disregard of the body politic? No.
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CNet News is reporting that the another chapter has been added to the ongoing saga between Yahoo and French regulators over what can be viewed or sold over online networks. You may remember that several years ago the French got angry because some knuckleheads were selling Nazi memorabilia over the Net via Yahoo’s site.
Consequently, a French court ordered Yahoo to find a way to prevent French citizens from accessing auctions of Nazi memorabilia. Yahoo asked a U.S. federal judge to block the French court’s ruling – – citing not only its free speech rights both also the impossible hassle associated with trying to quarantine French citizens from the rest of the world – – and the company eventually prevailed.
But, on procedural grounds, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned that decision yesterday. Basically the court said that the California judge who issued the previous ruling didn’t have the right to hear the case.
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That’s the question one online casino (Casino City, Inc.) is asking a federal district court to answer. Page C3 of today’s New York Times features an interesting story about the case, which Casino City filed in response to Department of Justice threats against publishers and broadcasters warning them to not print or display ads for online casinos. Casino City is seeking a declaratory judgment that Internet gambling advertising is constitutionally protected commercial free speech under the First Amendment.
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Unlike many of the other dry technology and media policy issues I monitor, censorship issues occasionally provide some comedic relief, especially when Congress or the FCC start talking dirty. I love the sheer irony of the fact that in order to tell us which words or phrases must never be uttered on broadcast television or radio, Congress must ultimately list them all in a bill, as part of the public record, for the whole world (including school kids) to see. (Take a look at all the filthy talk in H.R. 3687, for example.) My God, aren’t they thinking of the children! Naughty, naughty Congress.
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The Technology Liberation Front is the tech policy blog dedicated to keeping politicians' hands off the 'net and everything else related to technology.