Slashdot Mirror
Regulation That Could Stifle Video Over the Net?
bb writes to tell us that recent comments made by the FCC could be cause for concern for proponents of internet video. Being considered under the guise of a push against child pornography on the internet, VoN founder Jeff Pulver stated that this is just a warning shot. From the article: "He drew a parallel between this potential regulation and an attempt to ban or restrict Internet voice in 1996, and predicted a long battle and offered to help advocates of rights of IP video innovators. 'The VoN coalition will take people through the stages of what's going to happen,' he said."
Remember guns do very little but kill, whereas videos on the internet are about as bad news as videos on the TV.
People always use this gun analogy and it is (pardon the pun) dead wrong.
The fact of the matter is, a gun is far more likely to kill the owner of the gun, a casual bystander, or someone totally different (when the gun is stolen), than it is a criminal while protecting life or property. The odds of you dying from a gunshot wound increase by a large margin when you own a handgun.
Whether you agree with the practice or not, regulating handguns can at least *BE PROVEN* to reduce these types of deaths of people who have nothing to do with the crime.
Regulating child pornogrpahy on the internet does nothing to protect anyone or reduce anything, because anyone involved in posting it or looking at it is already doing something illegal. There *are* no "innocent bystanders".