FCC Drops Plan to Require Filters on Wireless Broadband

From C-NET:

On Monday, the chairman told the blog Ars Technica that he has revised his proposal for free wireless broadband so that it doesn’t require license holders to filter for porn. Martin said in an interview with the Web site that he has already started circulating the new version of the plan.  The FCC has been considering auctioning off 25 megahertz of wireless spectrum in the 2155MHz to 2180MHz band for several months. As part of the auction, Martin proposed requiring license holders to offer a portion of their service for free. Also, the free service would be required to filter for pornography and material deemed unsuitable for children.  The idea behind the proposal was to provide wireless broadband Internet access to millions of Americans who may not have been able to afford it. ut several consumer and civil liberty groups opposed the Web filtering requirement, believing that the filter could potentially allow the government to block any content it finds objectionable. Martin told Ars Technica that he didn’t want the Web filtering provision to kill the whole proposal. So he took it out.

One Response

  1. Was the American Library Association involved in any way? How?

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