FCC Mulling More Control For Electronic Media 176
Posted
by
Soulskill
from the yeah-that-sounds-fantastic dept.
from the yeah-that-sounds-fantastic dept.
A recent Notice of Inquiry from the FCC is looking for opinions on how the "evolving electronic media landscape" affects kids, and whether the FCC itself should have more regulatory control over such media. The full NOI (PDF) is available online. "FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski included a statement with the NOI in which he noted that 'twenty years ago, parents worried about one or two TV sets in the house,' while today, media choices are far more widespread for children, including videogames, which 'have become a prevalent entertainment source in millions of homes and a daily reality for millions of kids.'"
Re:tired of this "control the internet for the kid (Score:5, Informative)
Opinions? (Score:3, Informative)
Ok, I've been looking but I don't see anywhere on the FCC website to actually give them feedback.
Re:Imagine... (Score:3, Informative)
The study of what is behind what you call "depriving" is way beyond the scope of a Slashdot post, and probably would be marked as off-topic anyway.
http://www.whywaldorfworks.org/02_W_Education/index.asp [whywaldorfworks.org]
But, as you say "each to their own". My worst nightmare would be having the government force my preferred approach down the throats of every American family.
Re:Physical activity. (Score:3, Informative)
More kids are killed by football and other physical activities than surfing on the net or videogaming.
It's Not About "Kids;" That's Just the Ruse (Score:5, Informative)
If the government said, "Y'know, we'd like to exert more control over the blogosphere, over all electronic media, really: restrict what is said, know the identities of who is saying it, get a firm handle on who is on the mailing lists of Markos Moulitsas and Rush Limbaugh... whaddya say, citizens, can we do that?" the answer would be a resounding, "Over Our Dead Body."
The "kids" thing is the spoonful of sugar that makes the tyranny go down...
Re:How can this be legal? (Score:4, Informative)
The only reason the FCC exists is to manage access to the EM sprectrum so that the public can use it without stepping on each other's toes. Expanding their authority beyond that has no legal justification.
Re:Physical activity. (Score:3, Informative)
The worst problem with video games and things like that is the lower level of physical activity among the young.
How much of that is due to video games like Dance Dance Revolution and Wii Sports, and how much of that is due to parents keeping their kids indoors due to media-charged fear of child molesters?
Re:How can this be legal? (Score:2, Informative)
And before anybody says "commerce clause". . . I can see how that would enable the federal government to regulate or tax the sale of games across state lines, regardless of their content. But if they started evaluating the contents and discriminating between games, then that bumps up against the 1st Amendment.
In the worst decision the Supreme Court ever made: Wickard v. Filburn.
The Supreme Court decided that a man growing grain on his own farm to feed his own chickens constituted Interstate Commerce.
Their 'justification' was that since his grain was a substitute for wheat he could have bought on the open market, then his grain was affecting the overall demand of the nationally traded grain.
Pure and utter bullshit.
Re:How about zero control? (Score:3, Informative)
Viewers and advertisers care about content. Networks care about them.
There was plenty of protest when ABC showed two women in bed together last year on Grey's Anatomy. Major groups threatened to boycott the network. (In theory the Christian Coalition already boycotts everything Disney because Disney doesn't go out of their way to stop the "gay" days at Disney, which Disney neither endorses nor organizes).
The network was terrified of the boycott and eliminated the lesbian couple. Then there was a backlash about discrimination against gays, so now the girl has a new girlfriend, but they won't be seen in bed together.