{"id":610,"date":"2015-02-23T11:02:49","date_gmt":"2015-02-23T17:02:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thechristiangeek.net\/wp\/?p=610"},"modified":"2015-02-23T13:25:13","modified_gmt":"2015-02-23T19:25:13","slug":"l-gordon-crovitz-from-internet-to-obamanet-wsj","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thechristiangeek.net\/wp\/?p=610","title":{"rendered":"L. Gordon Crovitz: From Internet to Obamanet – WSJ"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

This may be seen as more political than I normally allow The Christian Geek to be, however this is extremely relevant to the scope of the site. \u00a0It has huge implications to both religious speech and it is one of the top tech issues of the day. \u00a0You really need to read Mr. Crovitz article. \u00a0It puts the issue out very clearly.
\nL. Gordon Crovitz: From Internet to Obamanet – WSJ<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What you have to keep in mind here is that he mentions both critical impact areas of what he calls “Obamanet” (I like that phrase…) \u00a0The\u00a0most important thing to take away<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0is that these are regulations being passed to fix a problem that does not exist.<\/p>\n

Everyone keeps focusing on the economics. \u00a0 Yes, problems have\u00a0threatened, but market pressures have prevented them from coming about. \u00a0Market forces have kept the internet working smoothly and more responsively than government could ever possibly do. \u00a0Yet this is not the real danger of the impending federal regulations<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0real danger<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0of these regulations is<\/p>\n

in the control of content. \u00a0Right now, the internet is a bastion of free political, philosophical, religious and ideological discourse; at least in the U.S. \u00a0This is anathema to Progressivism where political correctness must reign supreme. \u00a0Remember the old Soviet Zampolit\u00a0(political officer)? \u00a0The net neutrality regulations – what little we know – will make this kind of control a reality in the United States. \u00a0Congressional Democrats have already talked about controlling content. \u00a0Expect to see equal time rules, fairness doctrines, government speech codes, regulations of Facebook and Twitter timelines, takedown notices for “hate speech” and worse.<\/p>\n

Some would argue that this already happens in the private internet. \u00a0Yes, it certainly does. \u00a0I make no secret that speech here occurs at my pleasure. \u00a0Facebook has tried to silence Christian and\/or conservative voices. \u00a0In the former case, anyone can create their own soapbox to counter what I say. \u00a0In the latter case, not only can you go somewhere else, but when these companies do take such unpopular and heavy handed approaches, the public\u00a0backlash has resulted in a quick reversal of such policies.<\/p>\n

Under federal regulation, that censorship is determined by the government. \u00a0It is broadly mandated across the whole of the internet rather than narrowly and specifically as it is now. \u00a0Most important is that\u00a0you will have nowhere else to go<\/em>. \u00a0You obey. \u00a0Or you go away. \u00a0Or you are prosecuted.<\/p>\n

Now, one could well argue that this violates the First Amendment. \u00a0That it will have no more chance of surviving as did the old Fairness Doctrine. \u00a0That is\u00a0probably<\/em>\u00a0true, though in court you have no guarantees. \u00a0The problem is,\u00a0before<\/i>\u00a0the court can make that ruling,<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. The law has to be in place.<\/li>\n
  2. Someone has to be demonstrably harmed by that law.<\/li>\n
  3. The challenge has to go through the full legal system, presumably ending in the Supreme Court.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    This is a process that will take years at best and possibly more than a decade. \u00a0That is a decade of active political and religious persecution for speaking your opinion. \u00a0By the time the courts can throw this out, a free internet may very well be dead. \u00a0Progressives\u00a0do not need to win<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0this battle to win the war. \u00a0They merely need to have the fight. \u00a0The time that the battle takes will give them their victory.<\/p>\n

    Now is the time for public pressure to be applied. \u00a0You can share stories like this. \u00a0Though it may be a bit late, you can still write the FCC and voice your opinion. \u00a0You can and should write your congressmen. \u00a0This is an issue that crosses party lines. \u00a0This latter is particularly important. \u00a0I rather expect the FCC to pass their regulations regardless of public pressure so the only quick way of reining them in is through Congressional action.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    This may be seen as more political than I normally allow The Christian Geek to be, however this is extremely relevant to the scope of the site. \u00a0It has huge implications to both religious speech and it is one of the top tech issues of the day. \u00a0You really need to read Mr. Crovitz article. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[3,6,10],"tags":[81,82,79,80,30,31,77,78,40,44,48],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5ymfK-9Q","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thechristiangeek.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thechristiangeek.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thechristiangeek.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thechristiangeek.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thechristiangeek.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=610"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/thechristiangeek.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":617,"href":"http:\/\/thechristiangeek.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610\/revisions\/617"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thechristiangeek.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thechristiangeek.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thechristiangeek.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}