[ga] [Fwd: [ PRIVACY Forum ] FCC Chair Drops Internet Filter Plan -- And Wordsfrom the Smothers Brothers]

["Jeffrey A. Williams" <jwkckid1@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

All,

  Thanks to Lauren the following is forwarded for your
review and consideration.  

  Although this is not likely the final act or Censorship,
and all it's ugly forms and practices, I hope that at least
for the time being, the banning of the use of language on
any public forum, such as the GA, or to whom such is sent
to, now be properly recognized and adhered to accordingly.

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [ PRIVACY Forum ] FCC Chair Drops Internet Filter Plan -- And
Wordsfrom the   Smothers Brothers
Date: Mon, 5 Jan 2009 21:42:30 -0800
From: privacy@xxxxxxxxxx
Reply-To: PRIVACY Forum Digest mailing list <privacy@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: privacy-list@xxxxxxxxxx


  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@xxxxxxxxxx or lauren@xxxxxxxx 
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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very often the accident of glory" - Theodore Roosevelt

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liability depends upon whether B is less than L multiplied by
P: i.e., whether B is less than PL."
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