Verizon and AT&T Accused of Being Threats to Democracy | Observations, Scientific American Blog Network
Verizon and AT&T Accused of Being Threats to Democracy | Observations, Scientific American Blog Network:
"Unfortunately, the stakes are higher for the U.S. than just lousy service and exorbitant bills. The current state of affairs threatens the ability of citizens to speak freely in a democracy."
Perversely, speech over old-fashioned analog telephone service is far better protected than speech over the Internet, or any device (like a smart phone) that connects to the Internet. In 2002, the FCC under then-president George W. Bush decreed that the Internet wasn’t a so-called “telecommunications service,” and thus subject to federal laws protecting free speech and competition. Instead, it was an “information service,” much like a television channel. The owner of the information service determines what kind of information he would like it to host. In practice, this means that the companies that own the infrastructure—cell-phone companies and Internet service providers more generally—decide what content gets through. In a response to an audience question, Desai said that the FCC could perhaps reclassify the Internet as a telecommunications service, a step that Scientific American has championed multiple times in the past.
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"Unfortunately, the stakes are higher for the U.S. than just lousy service and exorbitant bills. The current state of affairs threatens the ability of citizens to speak freely in a democracy."
Perversely, speech over old-fashioned analog telephone service is far better protected than speech over the Internet, or any device (like a smart phone) that connects to the Internet. In 2002, the FCC under then-president George W. Bush decreed that the Internet wasn’t a so-called “telecommunications service,” and thus subject to federal laws protecting free speech and competition. Instead, it was an “information service,” much like a television channel. The owner of the information service determines what kind of information he would like it to host. In practice, this means that the companies that own the infrastructure—cell-phone companies and Internet service providers more generally—decide what content gets through. In a response to an audience question, Desai said that the FCC could perhaps reclassify the Internet as a telecommunications service, a step that Scientific American has championed multiple times in the past.
..
.ero
.
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