IN DEFENSE OF INTERNET PROVIDERS
There is a great furor
over internet companies blocking what they feel is offensive. First
of all, Twitter and Facebook are private companies. They have the
right to control what is said, or written on their site.
The
rules on the internet are different than those of other media. There
was a time that you could not say certain things on radio,
television, or newspapers. In great part, this is still the case. We
have the right to free speech, but the internet is considered like
private mail, even though distributed to a broad audience. Congress
nor the FCC has any control over what is said there.
We have
the right to block things that we find offensive, and most all of us
we have had those things had that happen to us, and we have also
blocked others.
I don't like what
they are doing, but since it is a public forum on a privately owned
network, they have the legal, and moral right to do so.
Those
who use music as part of their posts get upset because the private
company, which pays for some content on their forum won't pay the
user for using recorded material without having written consent of
the artist because they believe that it is protecting the rights of
the artist in that no royalties are paid them, and the user in
effect, be making money for using it.
They also censor certain
things that are written or said because they find it offensive.
That is their right. They own the platform, and they control it. In
other words, it's their game, they make the rules. If we don't like
it, we don't have to play.
Lee Akers
10-17-2020
No comments:
Post a Comment