FCC Chair To Push For Free, Porn-Free National Internet

Silicon Alley Insider:

During the FCC's December meeting, chair Kevin Martin plans to push for a free, but porn-free Internet service that would be available to all Americans. Reports the Wall Street Journal:

The proposal to allow a no-smut, free wireless Internet service is part of a proposal to auction off a chunk of airwaves. The winning bidder would be required to set aside a quarter of the airwaves for a free Internet service. The winner could establish a paid service that would have a fast wireless Internet connection. The free service could be slower and would be required to filter out pornography and other material not suitable for children. The FCC's proposal mirrors a plan offered by M2Z Networks Inc., a start-up backed by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers partner John Doerr.

Read the whole story: Silicon Alley Insider

Comments

[kae]

Oh look! this country does have a functioning(?) FCC - but oh...oops! Jesus thinks he belongs here too.

[gmlaster]

I think they've got this thing backwards. You should have to pay to have content filtered out for you. A good browser can be set to filter content. You can also buy software to do it, but it can be hard for some people to set up. So If you want the government to provide you with a no-porn, no-religion or no-whatever internet without having to set it up yourself, you should have to pay for that service.

That way, the internet is free for those who want unrestricted access. Censorship would then be self-imposed rather than imposed on everyone, and it would also put a little money back into our treasury.

[gmlaster]

Interesting idea. But our new president is a Constitutional scholar. How are they planning to get around that whole 1st Amendment freedom of speech/press thing?

[SammyGone]

Porn is a horrible scourge that needs to be stopped immediately. Anything that can be done to stop it should be done and NOW!

[MajorKong]

Pat Robertson is that you?

[cautionbug]

i think i'll just keep paying for my porn-saturated service, thank you very much.

[truthlightly]

This is fairly obvious but why don't they just adopt the .xxx ending that failed to go through a few years back.
Push all the porn et al off of the .com, .org and .net. Simple to filter. Parents don't have to deal with the garbage pile. An excellent idea whose time is now here I'd say.

[sparkey]

If you ban porn on free internet, then you must also ban religion on free internet. There are those who like religion who don't like porn and there are those who like porn and don't like religion. You have to also ban religion or risk a discrimination lawsuit

[SammyGone]

Maybe the internet should be banned. Do the dishes and take out the trash.

[MajorKong]

Perhaps you'd prefer living in a country like Iran that censors the internet? Or China may be more to your liking. Then you wouldn't have to worry about all that icky freedom and stuff.

[Jamesdean]

its just another way to control internet, nothing else.

[JoeBlough]

Is Kevin Martin a born-again christian?

[gmlaster]

What do you bet that he's got gigabytes of downloaded porn at home?

[RobinSeattle]

Complete waste of time since it will not survive a court challenge because it basically forces providers to engage in prior restraint of content, which is unconstitutional.

Besides, the pornography industry contributes substantial amounts to the GOP and two porn stars, Mary Cary and Mimi Miyagi, have even run for office under the GOP banner (though each got trounced handily).

[Antifascist-08]

This is just a cover-up tactic to gain control of the internet. Don't believe anything these current slugs have to say about our internet.

There are already plenty of ways to filter internet service.

The fact is, these people (the cable and internet providers) were given huge tax breaks back in the 90s in order to bring broadband to the masses. Instead of actually doing that they have blocked private attempts to do so and downgraded the definition of broadband while other countries have been redoing their internet infrastructure. We are just falling behind and now we have to fight censorship and control as well.

One big fat scam, as usual.

[DC]

Porn as we know it is dehumanizing and sick. Yes, it should be banished. In fact in my neighborhood there was a porn video created of teenage kids raping a young girl, a classmate. (She died from the abuse and injuries.) This became a popular porn phone video to download. This is porn in true form.

But this bill reeks of something else -- repression of information and expression.

[RobinSeattle]

There is nothing inherently dehumanizing about porn, even as distasteful as some of it might be to most. Human beings are sexual creatures for crying out loud. Deal with it.

And the extreme does not define the mainstream (for example, Nazis aren't mainstream conservatives while communists aren't mainstream liberals). So knock off the hyperbole. It makes you look desperate in your attempt to claim some kind of moral and aesthetic high ground.

Geez, some people have no sense of proportion.

[SilentShout]

How about a text only free internet? It would eliminate 99% of porn, carefully define the boundaries of censorship, provide the most important research tools to everyone, and still leave a niche for for-profit providers. Download speeds would not be an issue. I'm not tech savvy, would this work?

[gmlaster]

Better yet, how about just providing free internet? No caveats or strings attached. Just free internet with one less bill to pay every month. Let people just keep on setting their parental filters to block out objectionable content from their kids and let the rest of us decide what we do or don't want to see.

My mom lives in Cincinnati, and I remember when the whole Robert Maplethorpe thing happened. We thought his photography was brilliant and beautiful. The gay thing didn't bother us at all. We thought his work was breathtaking. But the city of Cincinnati didn't agree with us and decided that we shouldn't be able to see it.

We saw it as art. They saw it as porn. Who should get to decide who's right? Is it fair for a government to use its power to decide what we should and shouldn't see? If Cincinnati had gotten its way, I would have missed out on the work of one of my all-time favorite artists.

I can't stand televangelists. I think they should all be run off the air. But my aunt loves them, so we compromise. Whenever I see them on my TV, I flip to another station. My aunt is free to enjoy them all she wants in her house.

If you don't want to see porn, don't go looking for it. One man's porn is another man's entertainment.

[PrincessAnnie]

Is it just me, or is that nerd overdue for a wedgie?

[sylar]

There simply isn't any demand. lol