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FCC head drops porn filter plans

by on02 January 2009

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And the people rejoiced


A US plan
to filter the internet of porn and other material inappropriate for children has been scrapped.

The FCC was thinking of ordering wireless ISPs bidding for slices of the radio spectrum to stick in anti-porn filters as a requirement of their bid. But it seems that chairman of the commission, Kevin Martin has dropped the idea in the hope he can get his fellow commissioners to endorse another cunning plan he has to auction off a slice of the airwaves for a free nationwide wireless broadband network.

Martin wanted to build a family-friendly broadband network by blocking objectionable Web sites was loosely based on the business model of a startup called M2Z Networks. This would give the Internet into the same sanitised repressed form of censorship that is seen in US television, the vigourous censorship of which has done nothing to improve the quality of life in North America.

But the filtering idea is about as popular as the Boston Strangler in the US and if Martin wanted to get his countrywide broadband accepted he felt that it was better to drop it. Martin is due to step down as chairman when the Obama administration takes over later this month.
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