 Z80APremium
join:2009-11-23
 ·Cox HSI
4 edits | Commerce clause says different Congress is granted by the Constitution explicit authority to regulate interstate commerce and you don't get much more interstate than the Internet. Must carry is a case in point. The government at multiple levels can can compel the cable operator to do anything they want including having 50 worthless public access channels. In my business I'm compelled to convey labor laws in the form of a labor law poster posted in a conspicuous place. I'm compelled to post my business license. I'm compelled to convey employee wage records to the state. I'm compelled to speak to county environmental authorities when they show up for inspection. I'm compelled to even allow the fire department to perform fire inspections without a warrant or notice.
Meanwhile having a cable system is not a Constitutionally protected right. Cable systems, like driver licenses, exist at the discretion of Congress and the several States and like all businesses can be regulated any way Congress sees fit.
With the NCTA's logic, they would not have to sell service to black people because that would violate their free speech (under the idiotic logic that they don't have to "speak" to black people). |
