[IP] CDT, PFF Urge Courts To Limit FCC's Authority to Regulate Speech
Begin forwarded message:
From: John Morris <jmorris@xxxxxxx>
Date: November 30, 2006 1:40:24 PM EST
To: dave@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Fwd: CDT, PFF Urge Courts To Limit FCC's Authority to
Regulate Speech
Dave,
Your IP readers might be interested in "friend of the court" briefs
that CDT and Adam Thierer of the Progress and Freedom Foundation
filed this morning in two different appeals challenging FCC broadcast
indecency orders. A key focus of our briefs is that as media
increasingly converges and broadcast becomes less relevant, it is
critical that the Internet model of free speech (with high protection
against government regulation) be applied to the converged content,
rather than the broadcast model (with low protection against
government regulation). Our view is that in a converged world there
will be ample technology tools and choices to allow parents to shield
their kids from unwanted content, and thus the justification for
heavy government censorship no longer holds.
I've pasted a press release below, and our briefs are at:
http://www.cdt.org/speech/20061129circuit2.pdf and
http://www.cdt.org/speech/20061129circuit3.pdf
The ACLU and others filed a separate brief, at http://
www.fepproject.org/courtbriefs/FoxvFCC.pdf, and two former FCC
officials filed a brief arguing against the current FCC, at http://
www.cdt.org/speech/20061129former-officials.pdf.
John Morris
At 10:01 AM -0500 11/30/06, David McGuire wrote:
Date: Thu, 30 Nov 2006 10:01:48 -0500
From: David McGuire <dmcguire@xxxxxxx>
To: update@xxxxxxx
Subject: [Update] CDT, PFF Urge Courts To Limit FCC's Authority to
Regulate
Speech
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For immediate release:
November 30, 2006
CDT Contact:
David McGuire
(202) 637-9800 x106
PFF Contact:
Amy Smorodin
(202) 289-8928
CDT, PFF Urge Courts To Limit FCC's Authority to Regulate Speech
As communications technologies converge, courts must rein in the
Federal Communications Commission's continued efforts to expand its
authority to regulate speech over broadcast media. In friend-of-the-
court briefs filed in conjunction with Adam Thierer of the Progress
and Freedom Foundation (PFF), the Center for Democracy & Technology
(CDT) today argued that courts should not allow the FCC to expand
its regulatory authority even as the original basis for that
authority withers.
CDT and PFF filed the briefs in the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the
2nd and 3rd Circuits in two recent appeals by broadcasters
challenging "broadcast indecency" determinations made by the FCC.
The briefs make the case that the FCC's radical expansion of its
indecency enforcement violates the First Amendment of the
Constitution and the Administrative Procedures Act and that the
determinations should be overturned. The FCC's expanded indecency
enforcement has already led some public televisions stations to
remove some historical documentaries from their broadcast schedule.
Copies of the CDT-PFF briefs are available at http://www.cdt.org/
speech/20061129circuit2.pdf and http://www.cdt.org/speech/
20061129circuit3.pdf .
"The FCC's increasingly aggressive attempts to control speech on
the radio and television are on a collision course with a wave of
technological change that will soon render the Commission's
involvement in these matters obsolete," said CDT Staff Counsel John
Morris. "As the distinctions between broadcast and digital media
fade into history, policy makers, technologists and civil
libertarians must work together to ensure that the light-touch
approach to Internet communications, and not the outdated rules for
broadcast, becomes the standard for regulation in the converged
media world."
As an organization focused on the Internet and emerging digital
technology, CDT has not typically involved itself in the broadcast
indecency debate. But the FCC's increased indecency enforcement is
likely in this age of convergence to threaten the underlying
freedom of other digital communications. The FCC's authority to
regulate "indecency" in the broadcast arena emerged during a time
when viewers and listeners had little power to control the nature
of the media coming into their homes. That is simply not the case
in the digital world, and the FCC cannot be allowed to extend its
archaic authority to other technologies, where user control is a
built-in function.
Added Theier, "with a wide diversity of parental control tools now
at their disposal, families have the ability to construct and
enforce their own 'household standard' for acceptable media content
in their homes. Consequently, government does not have a compelling
interest in imposing an amorphous 'community standard' on Americans
since there are less restrictive ways for families decide for
themselves what should and should not be seen or heard in their
homes." Thierer is Senior Fellow and Director of the Center for
Digital Media Freedom at PFF.
The briefs contain two major components. First, they challenge the
arbitrary, unconstitutional nature of the FCC's procedures for
punishing broadcast indecency. Among other things, CDT and PFF
argue that the commission has made no attempt to identify the
"community standards" it relies on to make determinations about
what is "indecent." As a result the commission's rules make it easy
for a vocal minority of viewers to shout down content that they
don't like.
Second, the briefs challenge the very foundation of the FCC's
authority to regulate speech. The briefs identify how convergence
is undermining the jurisprudence surrounding broadcast regulation
and argue that technological advancements like the V-chip now allow
parents to rely on their own standards to determine what media
their children have access to. Those advancements undercut the need
for aggressive government censorship, and the chilling of valuable
content that has flows with such censorship.
About PFF: The Progress & Freedom Foundation is a market-oriented
think tank that studies the digital revolution and its implications
for public policy. It is a 501(c)(3) research & educational
organization.
About CDT: The Center for Democracy and Technology works to promote
democratic values and constitutional liberties in the digital age.
With expertise in law, technology, and policy, CDT seeks practical
solutions to enhance free expression and privacy in global
communications technologies. CDT is dedicated to building consensus
among all parties interested in the future of the Internet and
other new communications media.
--
David McGuire
Director of Communications
Center for Democracy & Technology
(202) 637-9800 x106
(202) 423-7432 (mob)
_______________________________________________
http://www.cdt.org/mailman/listinfo/update
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