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.