As is the tradition for any outgoing political administration, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin is trying to leave a huge personal stamp on the FCC – and Web users – on his way out the door. Yesterday, Martin proposed new rules that would require owners of an, as yet undeveloped, new wireless broadcast spectrum to provide access a porn-free Web without cost, essentially creating a free wireless Web, censored by the government.
This proposal is ridiculous on several different levels. As Eric Schonfeld of TechCrunch points out, it’s an non-starter from a technology point of view:
1. The FCC has a hard enough time figuring out what is decent and what is not on 500 channels. It is not equipped to police decency on billions of Websites, even if it relies on automated filters to do most of the work.
2. The rule would apply to only one sliver of spectrum, the AWS-3 band, which nobody really uses yet. It would be like banning porn on fiber-optic IPTV, but not doing anything about it on satellite or cable. If children watching porn is the problem, this will do nothing to stop it.
3. Porn filtering aside, requiring winners of the AWS-3 spectrum auction to give up a quarter of the airwaves they win to set up a free slower-tier wireless Internet service will certainly make those airwaves worth less to any potential bidders. Worse, it could drive away the best potential bidders who might decide it is just not worth their effort or capital.
But, tech reasons aside, Martin’s proposal is plain old censorship. It’s hard to understate the importance of content on the Web being unfiltered and unregulated by the government, beyond criminal laws. Censorship, as they say, is a slippery slope, and as Schonfeld pointed out, it’s virtually impossible to decide what is obscene, let alone police the Web for obscenity.
Secondly, it’s not the federal government’s job to provide free Web access. Internet users can already easily find free, or virtually free Web access through services like AnchorFree or Meraki, and in most major cities, you can find access through open networks on any street corner. With municipal wi-fi proposals having a hard time getting off the ground, it’s tough to see how a federal plan with so many complications could get any support.
