[332] in Privacy_Forum
[ PRIVACY Forum ] FCC: "We've Got Those Bare Buttocks Under Control!"
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (privacy@vortex.com)
Fri Jan 25 21:42:49 2008
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Date: Fri, 25 Jan 2008 18:14:17 -0800
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FCC: "We've Got Those Bare Buttocks Under Control!"
http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000364.html
Greetings. While the FCC has been pretty much asleep at the switch
as far as Network Neutrality and ISP abuses are concerned, it would
be unfair to suggest that the Commission has been completely sitting
down on the job in all respects -- they've got the bare buttocks
situation firmly in their grasp.
The FCC just fined ABC $1.43 million over buttocks and "small area of
the side of one breast" shots in a more than five-year-old episode
of the "NYPD Blue" television series ( http://tinyurl.com/2fmfr2 ).
The time lag between the airing and this fine may help to explain
the Commission's lack of attention to critical Internet issues --
staff has probably been hard at work on the Blue case, giving the
matter frame-by-frame attention so that they couldn't be accused of
falling down on the job.
Needless to say, I consider the fine ridiculous, especially since
ABC broadcast the series with parental warnings (and appropriate
V-chip flags from the time that system was available). This sort of
behavior by the Commission makes the U.S. a laughingstock throughout
most of the Western world, and seems to be treading very close to an
extortionist trade-off against the 1st Amendment.
It's also a horrendous waste of time and effort, to boot.
Free advice for the FCC -- take your minds away from the buttocks
and breasts -- and instead concentrate on protecting consumers from
ISPs who seem to increasingly feel that it's open season to filter,
monitor, block, modify, and manipulate the contents of their
subscribers' and Web services' data.
And while you're at it, you might get off your own behinds and do
something meaningful about that half of the U.S. population that
apparently still doesn't realize that their analog TVs are currently
scheduled to go dark in a year or so.
There are many areas where the FCC could make a positive and crucial
difference, but we really don't need your protection from the big
bad buns, thank you very much.
--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein
lauren@vortex.com or lauren@pfir.org
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
http://www.pfir.org/lauren
Co-Founder, PFIR
- People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org
Co-Founder, NNSquad
- Network Neutrality Squad - http://www.nnsquad.org
Founder, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com
Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
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