# Michael Powell on censorship and VOIP

- Author: Joichi Ito
- Date: 2004-05-05T21:48:02Z


The RegisterFCC chairman hails VoIPMichael PowellIf you're a big incumbent and you've sort of enjoyed a competitive advantage . . . you, in my opinion, ought to be terrified.

[...]

I think it's going to be the very, very best and biggest breakthrough in our ambitions and dreams about competition ever.via Kevin Werbach

Exactly.

ReutersOxygen Media Inc. CEO and founder Geraldine Laybourne criticized the FCC's enforcement effort during the National Cable & Telecommunications Assn.'s (NCTA) annual trade show.

"I don't think we should use the word indecency; we should call it what it is: censorship," Laybourne said Tuesday during one of the show's panel discussions.

Laybourne's comments came after a Q&A session with FCC chairman Michael Powell and NCTA chief Robert Sachs.

"I don't agree with that," Powell told reporters after his dialogue. "For 70 years, the country has had limits on broadcast television. To me censorship is prior restraint, and I don't think anybody has been involved in that limitation on content."via Jeff Jarvis

Umm... I don't think so.

I guess 1 out of 2 isn't bad.





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Technology Controversy, US Policy and Politics