Cable is on very dangerous legal grounds here. There is plenty of Supreme Court case law that abridges private carriage mediums of an absolute 1st amendment right (broadcasting, cable). But the Internet looks more like a two-way common carriage medium. The end-game here could be full on common carriage for ISPs.
Edit: Also, if cable pursues this angle, their safe harbor provisions for kiddie porn and copyright are gone. They could see Brian Roberts in handcuffs for transmitting illegal content. They know this, which is why NCTA and their paid Puppet (with bad nose hair) Randy May trotting this line is a Machiavellian tactic -- they view the free speech argument as one of the pro-neutrality crowd's strongest.
powerhog Stinkin' up the joint Premium join:2000-12-14 Owasso, OK
I think you've said it best. Would be kind of interesting for the cable systems to "win" on this 1st Amendment front then face the consequences for transmitting illegal content.
Of course, we all know that they'll just have take spend some extra money to buy the necessary legislation to give them both 1st Amendment rights and common carriage protections.
reply to Bill Dollar So if you let somebody into your home and tell them not to make racist remarks, then since you've exercised your right to censor your property, you become liable for anything else they say? Doesn't make sense. They are a safe harbor because they aren't responsible for what their users transmit. Doesn't mean they can't also block certain bits as they see fit.
