Holistic Wisdom Corporation

Regulating Cable & The Internet

Senator Ted Stevens, (R-AK) who has already proposed that broadcast indecency standards be expanded to cable and satellite, is now talking about the possibility of policing content when it is delivered over broadband Internet or by new Internet technologies such as Voice over Internet Protocol (VolP).

Declan McCullagh, in a CNET article, suggests that Stevens may be worried about the trend of movies and TV shows being offered for downloading through the Internet, which places the material outside the purview of the FCC. “We ought to find some way to say, here is a block of channels, whether it’s delivered by broadband, by VoIP, by whatever it is, to a home, that is clear of the stuff you don’t want your children to see,” said Stevens.

It is unclear exactly what Stevens, the powerful Chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, has in mind. (Laws totally banning indecency on the Internet have already been ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.) McCullagh speculates that Stevens may be considering requirements for certain types of Web publishers to rate sexually explicit sites through a mechanism like the Platform for Internet Content Selection, which is built into the Internet Explorer browser. “It looks like Stevens is talking about some sort of ratings system for the Internet,” said Marv Johnson, legislative counsel for the ACLU. “But you really can’t have the FCC or the federal government be the taste police for the American citizens. It’s just not going to work.”